More than 100 supplement companies dot the terrain alongside I-15 snaking through Salt Lake City, Utah, generating $4 billion in annual sales–four times the revenue of the state’s more famous ski trade. The herbal health business is so prevalent in this area that it has been nicknamed Cellulose Valley, after the primary component of green plants.
Why Utah? For one thing, the dry air is ideal for storing precious powders. For another, politicians like Senator Orrin Hatch have helped create a fertile regulatory climate. Then there’s the long-standing environment of support for the products. Many Utah supplement companies are owned or operated by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). In the 1800s, LDS founder Joseph Smith blamed traditional medicine for his brother’s death and his own traumatic leg surgery. Early Mormon writings praised the “plants and roots, which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases.” In the 1940s, Mormon herbalist John Christopher preached about natural healing. A few decades later, three Utah companies–Nature’s Herbs, Nature’s Way and Nature’s Sunshine–began selling his formulas.
TIME.com: State of Reliefs — Oct. 9, 2006 — Page 1
