Nia Bowers
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Founder Kevin Gundersen Shares His Mission to Educate and Empower His Health-Conscious Customers
Los Angeles has long been at the forefront of healthy living trends, from fitness crazes to superfood obsessions. The city’s residents have helped popularize everything from green juice to yoga, turning wellness into both a lifestyle and a cultural export. For many Angelenos, nearly every aspect of daily life can be optimized for peak health and fitness, often using ideas that originated locally.
Yet this only makes it more surprising that such health-conscious people could be unaware of the artificial components of many dietary supplements. Supplements, whether aimed at bodybuilders or busy parents, are enormously popular in Los Angeles and across the country. Yet unlike the carefully curated diets and wellness routines so many local residents follow, numerous supplements still contain artificial ingredients and sweeteners that health-conscious consumers would typically avoid in other circumstances or forms.
It’s a contradiction that raises an obvious question: “Why are the same high standards people often apply to their diets not utilized when it comes to what they put in their bodies in supplement form?” Perhaps it’s a mistaken assumption that a supplement, a product whose entire purpose is to increase health and wellness, would be crafted from the healthiest ingredients. Whatever the cause, this blind spot in many people’s health-conscious lifestyles has become an opportunity for brands seeking to fix this disparity.
Companies like Inno Supps, founded by California native and USC graduate Kevin Gundersen, are now beginning to push against this contradiction by crafting products using all-natural ingredients and educating the public about this gap in their health awareness. Consumers are gradually becoming more informed about what’s in their supplements and how that impacts their health. Furthermore, as consumers become more cognizant of what’s in their supplements, they expect products to be rigorously tested to ensure both purity and quality of ingredients.
“Almost all supplements out there have artificial sweeteners you don’t want in your body, like Sucralose or Aspartame,” explains Gundersen. “We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year on extra third-party testing, heavy-metal testing, research and development, and more. It’s that important to us. We’re one of the only brands that do not use artificial sweeteners, an issue I’ve become extremely passionate about and which forms a foundational ideal for my company.”
Long gone are the days of muscle-bound men being the only users of creatine or other supplements to enhance their workouts and overall fitness. Today, supplement use is broad among both men and women, from those in the gym every morning to those who squeeze in a workout whenever their busy schedules allow. “Right now, Inno Supps customers are 53% men and 47% women,” shares Gundersen proudly. “My passion is bringing supplements, fitness, health, and wellness to as many people as possible, men and women.”
Gundersen and Inno Supps are focused on ensuring that the growth in supplement usage by Angelenos aligns with their determination to optimize their health in other aspects of their daily lives. Exercise and healthy foods are vital parts of a comprehensive, health-focused lifestyle and diet, but the impact and potential benefits of applying these same priorities to dietary supplements has been under-appreciated by many.
Now, industry pioneers like Gundersen are betting that health-conscious customers are coming around to the importance of knowing what is in their supplements. It’s an evolving process, but if the rapid growth of the brand in recent years is any indication, momentum is building. Health and wellness-focused people may have overlooked the artificial ingredients in the supplements they were consuming. But thanks to companies like Inno Supps, customers in Los Angeles and beyond are learning the importance of all-natural supplements in crafting a truly holistic, health-focused life.