Pioneering the move: Nestle Health Science to partner China’s online doctors in recommending Pure Encapsulations range

The company unveiled for the first time nine products from Pure Encapsulations in the recent China International Import Expo (CIIE), including its ashwagandha, B-complex plus, and quercetin supplements.

At present, the company is selling the other supplement brand Garden of Life​, as well as weight management brand OptiFast, in China via cross-border e-commerce.

Founded in the US in 1991, Pure Encapsulations is sold as a practitioner-only brand in the country.

It was the most dispensed premium supplement brand by health professionals, a 2017 Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) practitioner survey has found. The brand was acquired by Nestle Health Science two years ago.  

In China, the company make the products available via cross-border e-commerce, where consumers could purchase them freely.

At the same time, the company also plans to work with online health service providers in recommending the products as an adjuvant to medical treatments, Helen Sun, brand manager of Pure Encapsulations told NutraIngredient-Asia.​

“Pure Encapsulations​ is going to partner with practitioners to achieve better clinical result in order to pursue health management long term. ​

“Patients can obtain professional suggestion during online medical consultations and learn how to use ​Pure Encapsulations​ products as well,” ​Sun said.

This is because the online health services are becoming more prevalent and the company hopes to ride on its rising popularity and pioneer the move of recommending supplements via healthcare professionals.

These healthcare professionals could be family physicians, pharmacists, and even specialist doctors, she explained.  

“Online doctor diagnostic services will become more popular in the future and with the government promoting online medical consultations for minor ailments to lessen the burden on public healthcare services, this will be a major trend.​

“And we will pioneer the move with Pure Encapsulations,” ​she said.

The first online healthcare service to come on-board the initiative would be JD Health and Pure Encapsulations’ overseas flagship store is expected to launch in JD during end-December.

After receiving recommendations from the doctors, the patients will need to make the product purchase via the CBEC platform.

Products ​

Five out of nine of the SKUs unveiled are more specialised products that could be used as an adjuvant to treatment for stress, sleep, and immunity problems. 

For instance, the ashwagandha product claims to “help counteract the effects of occasional stress” ​and “may support cardiovascular, immune, cognitive, and joint function.” ​

The other example is the 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) product, which claims to “promote brain serotonin levels to support emotional well-being, healthy eating behaviour, and healthy sleep.”​

In which case, there could be potential to work with neurologists who specialise in cognitive and sleep in recommending these products.

The other products marketed as an adjuvant are quercetin for supporting cardiometabolic, cellular, and immune health; NAC (n-acetyl-l-cysteine); and magnesium.

The brand also has four basic nutrition supplements for sale in China, including multivitamins, B-vitamins, fish oil, and co-enzyme Q10.

The brand, which is said to offer hypoallergenic supplements, is said to be free from gluten, trans fats and hydrogenated oil, flavourings, artificial sweeteners, titanium dioxide, and magnesium stearate.