Nutritional supplements are Utah's third largest industry

Most people in the supplement industry agree that requiring herbal supplements to be subject to the same research trials as prescription drugs would bankrupt the companies and be pointless to boot. However many in the business endorse the idea of having FDA-regulated quality control standards and requirements for products to list side effects. As Rick Evans, a spokesperson for the company Neways, points out, they don't have anything to hide.

• Five days before the 2005 Super Bowl, nobody knew if wide receiver Terrell Owens would play.
• Bottles of bath and shower gel are on display at the headquarters of Tahitian Noni, a company with an annual revenue of $550 million.
• Before long, the phones at Provo-based Tahitian Noni International, the world's top maker of noni juice, were ringing off the hook.
• Dietary supplements --- herbs, noni juice, multivitamins --- were once the domain of hippies and fitness freaks, backpackers and chiropractors.
• More medical professionals are embracing our products," says Rick Evans, a spokesman at industry giant Neways.
• In downtown Provo, Nu Skin towers over Center Street, its headquarters a 10-story building of blue-tinted glass.
• Nu Skin, which sells supplements under its Pharmanex brand, made more than $1 billion last year.
• Most do little advertising, because their sales are done door-to-door through multilevel marketing.
• Then came World War II and the rise of synthetic drugs.
• In the mid- to late-1960s, herbs made a comeback, thanks largely to three Utah County companies --- Nature's Way, Nature's Sunshine and Nature's Herbs.
• As the demand for herbs and other supplements increased, the government, which viewed supplements as a drug, stepped up efforts to ensure safety.
• The emerging supplement industry cried foul, claiming the FDA was forcing their products from the shelves.
• A massive letter-writing campaign followed, culminating in the passage of the now-controversial DSHEA, which re-defined supplements as a class of food.
• Under the law, supplement makers couldn't claim their products cured or prevented disease --- but they could say they helped people feel better.
• A year after the law passed, Chang and others from the pharmaceutical industry helped start Pharmanex.
• For each new product Pharmanex spends 18 to 24 months and $1 million in research and development, Chang says.