The supplements industry is booming with more and more of us looking for the secret sauce to boost our health and happiness.
But anyone who has braved the vitamin section of their local grocery store will know the assault of pills and potions are enough to leave us running towards the alcohol aisle for our alternative medicine.
Countless cryptic combinations of letters and numbers are fighting for our attention, with little clear information about what to take and why. The global dietary supplements market is worth $140 billion, and expected to almost double to $272 billion over the next seven years. Yet there is very little brand recognition, trust or guidance within the space.
It was this confusing landscape that Jules Miller, the CEO and founder of The Nue Co., set out to change. The company was founded on a gut feeling, having been born out of Jules’ struggles to find the right supplements to help with her IBS. And when she sat down with her grandfather George Miller, a chemist and Cambridge University professor, to examine the pills she was taking to treat it, he pointed out many of the ingredients could be doing her more harm than good.
“My grandfather was extremely knowledgeable when it came to the way that we formulate supplements, but he was also somebody that really championed what we would now call holistic health,” Jules says.
“He was always speaking about mental health, alternative medicine and therapies. He sat me down and took me through all of these ingredient labels, and said ‘You might be consuming this ingredient for your IBS, but these five ingredients that have been added to essentially just bulk up the formula to drive down the cost could be quite detrimental to your long-term health.’”
Jules Miller in a The Nue Co.’s NYC pop-up store
This was the beginning of Jules’ journey to launch The Nue Co., which combines science and natural remedies to produce organic, vegan, sustainable and cruelty-free products to help our physical and mental health.
Key to the mission of the company, that launched in 2017, is cutting through the confusion and offering a more consumer-friendly experience. So The Nue Co. offer their products as ready-mixed combinations of both science-led and natural ingredients to help with some of life’s most common, and specific, challenges — including sleep, focus, stress, energy and gut health.
Customers complete an online consultation to identify the best combination of supplements for them, which can then be delivered monthly directly to their doors.
“One of the issues with the supplement industry was that people were having to go into a store and create their own cocktail of supplements,” Jules says.
“We very much focus on people’s concerns and symptoms — all of our products focus on one benefit that you should be able to feel. And we’re always straddling clinically-focused ingredients and natural, alternative medicines.”
George died 18 months ago, age 94, but not before seeing his granddaughter flying as the leader of one of the world’s most successful wellness start-ups.
Jules says, “I think one of the things that The Nue Co. is really known for today is our definition of health. I think that back when we launched, most people just thought about health in terms of nutritional deficiencies.
“But health really is the connectivity between physical health, mental health, social well-being and environmental well-being. That concept really came from my grandfather, that was something that he really instilled in us.”
Here, in a bespoke guide for our Mr Feelgood community, Jules describes five of the most common issues that customers turn to their supplements for help with, and The Nue Co. product designed to assist.
SLEEP
Sleep+
“The most common ingredient for sleep within the supplement industry in the US is the hormone melatonin. But the problem with melatonin is that it makes your body quite dependent on you taking it in order for you to have a good night’s sleep. And a lot of people feel grogginess the next day as well. So we looked at the precursor of melatonin, and what has to happen in the body organically for you to produce this hormone. So our formula has GABA and 5-HTP, and the combination of these two elements help induce melatonin production in the body naturally. And then we also include herbal and natural ingredients that are really going to help your body relax.”
FOCUS
Nootro-Focus
“We’ve got access to some really incredible labs and research, and Nootro-Focus is one of the most expensive and technical formulas that we’ve made. We’re using a lot of adaptogens and things like L-theanine, that are essentially designed to help ease anxiety and stress and put your mind in a more controlled state. But the real hero ingredient is citocoline, which is a clinically studied and researched ingredient proven to improve your memory over time.”
GUT HEALTH
Prebiotic+Probiotic
“A good quality probiotic is one thing that I would recommend for everyone. There are so many things that disrupt our microbiome from antibiotics, to stress, to the sweeteners in things like Diet Coke. If you are going to live a healthy lifestyle, you have to think about your gut health.”
Debloat+
“About 40% of our customers are men, and Debloat+ is one of our most popular products with men, which perhaps you wouldn’t expect. When we’ve opened pop-up stores, we’ve had lots of men coming in and just wanting to talk about their bowels! It contains 17 clinically-studied digestive enzymes which we source from a papaya extract, and it essentially helps you break down food faster. And then there’s also lot of ingredients from Ayurvedic medicine like ginger and turmeric, anti-inflammatories that are going to help reduce gas and tension. I can go to Italy and eat pasta every day, and as long as I’m taking my DeBloat+, I won’t get IBS.”
SKIN
Skin Filter
“Our probiotic and Debloat+ are our bestsellers, and then next is our skin supplements. Skin Filter is a natural take on ingestible retinol. It’s going to help with things like breakouts, brightness, and tightness of the skin. I’ve been taking this consistently for two years, and although it’s expensive, it reduces the amount of things that you put on your skin. It makes a huge difference.”
Skin Hydrator
“Our Skin Hydrator is an ingestible moisturizer, it’s got ceramides, it’s got collagen, it’s got Aloe Vera. I don’t use it because I don’t have dry skin, but this can really help with hydration.”
IMMUNITY
Immunity
“People know us for this idea that if you’ve got a specific problem, we’re going to give you a solution you can measure in 30 days. So our immunity supplements didn’t move much before, because it’s obviously a lot more long-term preventative. But then when Covid broke out, our loyal customer base all came back and bought all of our immunity products, and we saw a 400% increase in sales in those.”
Vitamin D
“There is research to show that if you are deficient in Vitamin D you are more likely to develop worse Covid symptoms. So we have a Vitamin D spray, which is more easily absorbed by the body than a capsule. With lockdown, everyone should be taking a Vitamin D3 supplement, especially if they are living in a city like New York or London. That and a good quality probiotic are the two things I would recommend for everyone.”
If you make a purchase through a link on this site we may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, which helps us to continue to produce our content.
