Four Decades at the Frontier of Supplement Science
Dr. Gene Bruno has been in the supplement industry since before most of its current customers were born. He started his career in the 1970s, when the supplement category was a niche corner of health food stores and the concept of nutraceuticals didn’t yet exist. He watched the industry grow from fringe to mainstream — and in doing so, he developed a perspective on where it’s going that most people in the industry don’t have.
His current role as Chief Scientific Officer at Nutraland USA puts him at the intersection of ingredient science, formulation innovation, and the regulatory environment. In this conversation with Nour Abochama, he shares what he sees as the most important developments in the next decade — and what the industry still hasn’t figured out.
The Bioavailability Revolution
The most significant shift in supplement science over the past decade has not been a new ingredient — it’s been a new understanding of how ingredients behave in the body.
The old model: you consume a nutrient, the small intestine absorbs it, done. The new model is much more complex. Absorption is affected by:
- The form of the ingredient (magnesium glycinate vs. magnesium oxide; methylfolate vs. folic acid)
- The matrix it’s consumed in (fat-soluble vitamins need dietary fat for absorption; curcumin bioavailability improves dramatically in oil-based or phospholipid formulations)
- The individual’s gut microbiome (certain compounds require microbial transformation to become active; different microbiome compositions produce different conversion rates)
- The individual’s genetic variants (MTHFR variants affect folate metabolism; CYP450 enzyme variants affect metabolism of many plant compounds)
- Timing relative to food, exercise, and sleep (melatonin timing matters; protein intake timing for muscle protein synthesis)
“We used to think bioavailability was a property of the ingredient,” Dr. Bruno explains. “We now understand it’s a property of the ingredient in a specific person, consumed in a specific way, at a specific time. That’s a much more complicated — and much more interesting — problem.”
The practical implications for formulation:
Phospholipid complexation improves absorption of fat-soluble compounds. Meriva (a turmeric-phosphatidylcholine complex) has dramatically higher bioavailability than standard curcumin.
Solid lipid nanoparticles and liposomes are being applied increasingly to supplement ingredients. The same delivery technology that made oral chemotherapy drugs viable is being adapted for wellness compounds.
Cyclodextrin complexes can solubilize water-insoluble compounds, improving their stability and absorption. CoQ10, resveratrol, and quercetin have all been formulated using cyclodextrin technology.
Plant-Based Ingredients: The Most Important Shift in the Next Decade
Dr. Bruno is specific about where he sees the biggest opportunity: plant-derived ingredients that are backed by both traditional use and modern clinical research.
“The pharmaceutical model — identify one molecule, isolate it, test it — has produced extraordinary medicine but limited wellness. The emerging model is understanding the whole phytochemical complex of a plant and how its components interact.”
Several areas he considers most promising:
Adaptogens with mechanistic understanding. Ashwagandha’s mechanism (withanolides acting on stress response pathways) is now well-characterized. Rhodiola’s (rosavins and salidroside on monoamine neurotransmitters) similarly. The shift from “people use this and seem to feel better” to “we understand specifically how this affects physiology” changes the scientific credibility of the category.
Postbiotics and fermented ingredient extracts. Fermentation transforms plant compounds in ways that can dramatically improve bioavailability and create novel active compounds. Fermented turmeric has different (and in some ways superior) bioactivity to unfermented. The fermented foods market is translating into fermented ingredient technology.
Precision botanical agriculture. The bioactive content of plant-derived ingredients varies enormously depending on soil conditions, climate, harvesting timing, and processing. Precision agricultural techniques — combined with spectroscopic quality control — are beginning to produce plant ingredients with consistent, specified bioactive profiles rather than variable natural extracts.
Marine-derived compounds. Astaxanthin, fucoxanthin, phycocyanin from microalgae, and omega-3 fatty acids from algae (rather than fish) represent a sustainability-positive, bioactive-rich frontier that is increasingly research-supported.
What “Sustainable” Actually Means in Supplement Manufacturing
Sustainability in the supplement industry is frequently a marketing term. Dr. Bruno has a more specific definition.
“Sustainable means the ingredient supply chain can continue to function at scale without depleting the resource it depends on. For botanical ingredients, that means understanding cultivation capacity, wild-harvest limits, and the ecological systems that support production.”
Current sustainability pressures:
Ashwagandha demand has increased so dramatically that quality control is a genuine concern — adulteration with cheaper plant material is documented. The solution is cultivation rather than wild harvest, combined with rigorous identity testing.
Fish oil from marine fish faces genuine sustainability limits in certain fisheries. Algae-derived omega-3 (which is where fish get their omega-3 from) eliminates this concern entirely and is now available at scale.
Vanilla, saffron, and other labor-intensive specialty botanicals face supply chain pressures that make adulteration economically tempting. Testing is essential.
What sustainable formulation looks like:
From a formulation standpoint, sustainability increasingly means:
- Using plant-derived ingredients where efficacy is comparable to animal-derived
- Prioritizing ingredients with documented cultivation practices over wild-harvested exotics
- Using minimum effective doses (which reduces ingredient consumption and often improves consumer experience)
- Choosing packaging with lower environmental footprint
The Regulatory Landscape: What’s Changing
Dr. Bruno has watched dietary supplement regulation evolve across multiple legislative cycles. His assessment of the current environment:
The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA, 1994) created the current regulatory framework. It has not been substantively revised in 30 years. The industry is dramatically larger and more complex than it was in 1994. Several reform proposals are in various stages of discussion:
Mandatory product listing: Currently, supplement companies don’t have to tell the FDA what products they’re selling. Several reform proposals would require registration of products before they go to market — closing the gap between cosmetics (which now require FDA listing under MoCRA) and dietary supplements.
New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) notifications: The current process for introducing new ingredients is widely criticized as unclear and inconsistently enforced. Reform would provide clearer pathways for innovation.
Increased enforcement resources: The FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition has historically been under-resourced for dietary supplement oversight. Increased funding and enforcement authority are discussed in reform proposals.
“The brands that should be worried are the ones that are currently competing on regulatory ambiguity rather than quality,” Dr. Bruno says. “If you’re making real products with verified ingredients at effective doses, more rigorous regulation makes you more competitive, not less.”
Key Takeaways
- Bioavailability is not a property of an ingredient alone — it varies with formulation (form, matrix, delivery method), individual genetics, microbiome composition, and timing
- Phospholipid complexation, liposomal delivery, and cyclodextrin complexes meaningfully improve absorption of fat-soluble and water-insoluble compounds
- Plant-based ingredients with both mechanistic understanding and clinical evidence represent the most promising growth area in supplement science
- Sustainability in supplement ingredients requires active supply chain management and quality verification — not just marketing claims
- DSHEA (1994) is overdue for reform; brands built on verified quality are better positioned under any likely regulatory evolution
This article is based on Episode 32 of Nourify & Beautify with Dr. Gene Bruno of Nutraland USA. Watch the full conversation on YouTube or listen on Podbean.
