USANA Products - Your Health Is Our Priority

WHAT IS USANA?

1970s Origins as Gull Laboratories

USANA's founder, Dr. Myron Wentz, received his Ph.D. in microbiology with an emphasis in immunology from the University of Utah. He served as the microbiology director of three hospitals in Peoria, Illinois, from 1969 to 1973. In 1973 he started Gull Laboratories in Salt Lake City to use advanced cell culture techniques to make commercial tests to diagnose viral diseases. In company literature Wentz later recalled the origins of Gull and USANA: "My objective in virology at Gull Laboratories was to produce complete, not-defective viral antigens.... After spending all of those years in the laboratory, maybe I smelled too many vapors, fumes or touched too many chemicals; I was continually sick. I pulled my nose out of virology just long enough to get a taste of nutrition.... I started eating right, but what I learned in the laboratory made me realize ... that supplementation was necessary."

Wentz began taking a multivitamin, what he believed was the best multivitamin on the market. Then one day he read the label and was decidedly unimpressed with the supplement's ingredients. "If we were to nutrient our cells in culture like this, Gull Laboratories wouldn't be here today," said Wentz, adding "We wouldn't have gotten off the ground. I believe it was that day that I made the commitment that I was going to nutrient myself and my family with the kind of nutrition that I use to grow cells in culture."

Wentz credited Dr. Michael Colgan as "the individual who convinced me of the importance of producing [USANA's first] products." After giving a talk at the National Nutritional Foods Association, Colgan spoke with Wentz privately and a few days later visited the Gull headquarters in Salt Lake City. Once he saw Wentz's approach to nutrition at the cellular level, Colgan reportedly remarked, "The potential for this is far greater than personal health for you and your family. I know everything that is going on in the nutrition