The Life Choice Journey

The Life Choice Journey

“Through the innovations, we have consistently led the way in navigating Health Canada’s regulatory landscape, maintaining our reputation for pharmaceutical-grade quality, and ensuring that Canadians have access to safe, effective, and cutting-edge natural health products.”

“It is known that minerals and vitamins are necessary for optimal health. However, many of us just don’t know what kind of minerals and vitamins to take which creates a lot of confusion, apathy, and frustration for a lot of people. Namely, numerous companies in the world are producing multi minerals and vitamins and promoting them as necessary for good health. But, at the same time are sabotaging the health of millions of people who are unsuspecting buyers of harmful and synthetic vitamins and minerals. The fact is that most mineral and vitamin brands on the market are synthetic, i.e. made from oxide minerals and other chemical substances. These products contain harmful substances, for example: preservatives, fillers, binders, coal tar, bitumen, gelatin, waste products etc. Consequently, these products cannot be digested by the human body and therefore cannot be assimilated. Moreover, they do not have a synergism due to being industrial-made and thus cannot find their way out of the body and thus get lodged in the tissues of the body causing disease or enhancing present diseases. Multi complexes are manufactured by pharmaceutical and food companies, and are not organic which is the state all digestible foods must be in for the body to break them down in order to absorb their nutrients.”[1]

Prior to 2009, natural health products (NHP) in Canada were sold as food supplements. Like the Standing Committee of Health stated: food supplements could make health claims and they did not require a NHP because they were classified as food supplements. Later they needed to be licensed as a sub-class of drugs, which meant a loss for the natural health industry and greater control over the industry from Health Canada.

In the USA, they still classify their NHPs as food supplements. Restricted NHPs were openly sold over the counter for decades without any health issues, in Canada they were restricted and against the law to sell. In February 2011, they were released from being classified as drugs and it was permitted that companies could apply for licensing to be able to sell them openly in Canada. It was a big day for us. I saw the value of this offering since I used these products in my practice in order to treat my patients so I immediately applied for almost all of them. Of course, being first to market means higher responsibility to prove the products are safe and effective, which we did, but because NHPs cannot be patented, our efforts became an open door for other suppliers to simply copy what we had accomplished. This is why Life Choice paved the way with DMSO and other products.

The 2011 decision by Health Canada to remove ten naturally sourced medicinal ingredients from Schedule F was a major milestone in Canadian natural health regulation. Their release marked a major victory for the natural health industry and for Canadian consumers seeking greater freedom of choice in personal health care.

Among the newly accessible products, L-tryptophan received special attention. Once banned after a 1989 contamination incident in Japan that caused an outbreak of Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome (EMS), L-tryptophan’s reputation suffered despite the issue being linked to a single manufacturer’s flawed production process. Later studies and reviews confirmed its safety, leading to its reclassification. It is now approved for non-prescription sale in oral doses up to 220 mg per day, recognized for its benefits in relaxation, sleep improvement, and nutrient metabolism.

Other ingredients removed from Schedule F include L-carnitine, valued for its effects on heart health, metabolism, and energy; apiol oil, used for liver, spleen, and prostate health; Centella asiatica (Gotu kola), known for wound healing and stress support; DMAE (deanol), which enhances memory and cognitive function; DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide), a topical analgesic and anti-inflammatory; dopamine, gold salts, theobromine (from chocolate and tea), and uracil. Each ingredient now carries specific non-prescription allowances under the Natural Health Products Regulations, while restrictions still apply for injectable or veterinary forms.

As you can see, Canadians were given access to NHPs but it came with a heavy responsibility because they were regulated like drugs. Our aim from the start was to bring innovative natural health products to the Canadian market following their release from Health Canada’s Schedule F (restricted status). This effort was tied with our ongoing commitment to quality, safety, and leadership in securing Natural Product Numbers (NPNs) for our products.

We were proud to be the first company to reintroduce L-Tryptophan to Canada in January 2013, after it was removed from prescription-only status. Our formula, which combines pharmaceutical-grade L-Tryptophan with P5P (vitamin B6), was designed for maximum purity, absorption, and effectiveness. In the same year, we also successfully reintroduced DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) to the Canadian market in both gel and liquid form—becoming the first to legally license and market DMSO products following their long absence due to regulatory restrictions.

Our achievements continued with Kava Kava, where we became the first company in Canada to receive an NPN for this supplement, legally reintroducing it after a decade-long ban. This success followed two years of regulatory work to meet Health Canada’s safety and efficacy standards. We also reached a major milestone with our Thyrodine® Thyroid Gland, which became the first NPN-licensed thyroid gland product approved by Health Canada. After four years of regulatory development, this achievement marked a transition from prescription-only thyroid preparations to natural health products available without a prescription. We later expanded this line with Thyrodine® Thyromoto—an iodine-free version formulated for individuals with autoimmune thyroid conditions—and our Adrenal Gland product, both developed with the same dedication to quality and efficacy.

Over the years, we have also launched a wide range of other first-to-market products, including Balanced (2011), Colloidal Silver Homeopathic (2010), HGH+ Homeopathic (2011), Lithium Homeopathic (2012), Probiotic Shelf Stable (2016), and several glandular and antifungal formulations.

Life Choice quality standards

Amino acid quality

The amazing power of amino acids is pure medicine if given in the correct form and right dosages. Fermentation process is designed for added cellular delivery due to its enzymatic form: 30 enzymes opposed to only 3 to 5 with the chemical extraction process.

One of the benefits of fermentation is the non-animal process, something many customers attest. Most amino acids are made by extraction or a chemical synthesis and not by fermentation. Life Choice will never convert to an extraction process. Using an extraction process is not an environmentally friendly process as it uses sewage sludge, avian feathers or human hair in the process.

Through the innovations, we have consistently led the way in navigating Health Canada’s regulatory landscape, maintaining our reputation for pharmaceutical-grade quality, and ensuring that Canadians have access to safe, effective, and cutting-edge natural health products.

References:

• Nikolic, Goran and Markovic, Dragana. 2015. Misconceptions about Nutritional Supplements and Modern Diseases. https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/216298

[1] Nikolic, Goran and Markovic, Dragana. 2015.