Nature's Sunshine Products, the Utah-based company that revolutionized the nutritional supplement industry, this month celebrated its 30th anniversary with a convention in Fukuoka that brought together top executives and its Japanese "family."
The breakthrough that put Nature's Sunshine in the driving seat of the industry was a simple one, according to Eugene Hughes, 72, founder and senior vice president, who had a bleeding ulcer 30 years ago.
"Someone told me to take cayenne pepper, which is obviously very hot, and when I ate it that created heat in my body which moved the blood and took care of the ulcer," he said. "But then my wife had the idea of putting it in a capsule to get it right to the heart of the problem." Until then, no other company had come up with the idea of a dissolving capsule as a "delivery system."