“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food,” reads the sign that hung outside Dr. Ron Schmid’s office for more than 30 years. Schmid’s belief that food and food extracts provide the basis for healing disease and achieving optimal health laid the foundation for the naturopathic medicine practice he started over three decades ago. It also led him to develop Dr. Ron’s Ultra-Pure, the line of 100 percent additive-free supplements he launched 20 years later.
Dr. Ron passed away in the summer of 2017, but his legacy lives on through the nutritional supplements he created with the highest purity, quality, potency, and value standards in mind. What’s more, a significant portion of the company’s annual profit goes to the Ron and Ellen Schmid Foundation to support charitable organizations engaging in good works. His dedication to sustainable wellness is also reflected in the two books he authored: Primal Nutrition: Paleolithic and Ancestral Diets for Optimal Health published in 2015, and The Untold Story of Milk published in 2009.
Beginnings: The Study of Food As Medicine
A very personal struggle with gut issues was the catalyst for Dr. Ron’s career. He often recalled, “My interest in nutrition, supplements, and health began when, as a young man, I became very ill with intestinal problems. Before IBS, leaky gut, and celiac disease were on the global health radar, Schmid healed himself by following a natural foods diet. Experiencing the benefits first-hand led him to the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, where he got his degree and went on to develop the finest, most pure and potent supplements available to complement traditional diets.
“I developed the purest and most effective nutrients, formulas, and special foods based on nutritional principles discovered and taught by Dr. Weston A. Price,” he once recalled. “Dr. Ron’s is based on the ideals of purity, empowerment, and commitment. Our clients want a clean environment, pure food and water, and no extraneous ingredients. Health empowers, so our goal is to help our clients live free of disease. Our customers trust us to give them the best.”
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Creating Additive-Free Supplements with No Magnesium Stearate
Aware of the conflicting headlines and profit-driven messaging that dominated the supplement marketplace, Schmid strived for clarity and transparency in client education materials and supplement formulas. He designed the company website to provide information about nutrition and supplements to help people become confident of their health, knowing that supplements vary widely in quality and composition. He recognized that a poor-quality product may have no effect whatsoever, but the same dosage of a superior product may work wonders.
The raw materials in Dr. Ron’s branded supplements are laboratory-tested for purity. They’re formulated without unnecessary and potentially allergenic fillers, binders, and dyes that are commonplace in other brands. Also absent are the non-nutritive coatings, lubricants, and flow agents other companies use to facilitate manufacturing and improve profit margins.
Because magnesium stearate and stearic acid are commonly added to raw materials so production machinery runs at maximum speed but reduce the rate tablets and capsules dissolve by up to 65-percent, Schmid eliminated these lubricants from his production process. He knew that nutrients not absorbed in the appropriate section of the intestine would be less effective, a major issue for individuals with impaired digestion.
In the following video from 2010, Dr. Ron shares the reasons why he decided to begin making his own additive-free nutritional supplements. He talks about using his own unique formulas and seeking the cleanest sources available. Dr. Ron also answers a few questions— whether his supplements are safe and beneficial for animals, which supplements were part of his diet, and what he thinks about GMO ingredients. Watch it all the way to the end for his comments about dealing with Lyme disease.
Ingredient Sourcing: Only The Best & Cleanest
Sourcing ingredients is of paramount importance at Dr. Ron’s Ultra-Pure. “In our formulas, we combine synergistic ingredients at optimal doses to create maximally effective supplements,” Schmid would explain. Dr. Ron products contain only, and exactly, the nutrients listed prominently on the label with no sugar, yeast, wheat gluten, corn, soy, eggs, tree nuts, or peanuts.
Most source materials come from North America, South America, and Europe, and all ingredients are non-GMO. Organ and gland-derived supplements are formulated from free-range, grass-fed and grass-finished animals from New Zealand that are raised without pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics. The arctic cod livers used to produce cod liver oil supplements originate in Norway and meet the strictest standards of purity.
The Impact: Better Health, Fewer Doctor Visits
As the patients Schmid saw in his practice transitioned from illness and office visits to a balanced food plan with supplements to complement their diet, he began shipping supplements to clients across the country. He believed his formulas to be helpful to anyone interested in optimizing health and extending the span of a vigorous, active life. “The question isn’t whether or not to take supplements,” he would say. “Rather, the questions are which ones, when, and how much.”
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Dr. Ron’s Ultra Pure Mission: Improving the Supplement Industry (And Beauty too!)
A few years after launching his line of supplements, Schmid added natural shampoos, conditioners, cleansers, moisturizers and serums to his product offerings. Free of the chemicals, hormone disruptors, carcinogens, and allergens commonly used in personal care products, Dr. Ron’s body-care products are healthy for people and the environment.
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Not only do the plant-based oils and herbal extracts absorb naturally into your body, they eliminate bioaccumulation (the build-up of synthetic ingredients) in organisms living nearby. Practicing sustainable wellness is a smart approach for any family and especially important for those who are pregnant, nursing, or using products on young children and individuals compromised by illness. Dr. Ron’s clean beauty products deliver the peace of mind of knowing what’s being absorbed into your body.
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Written by Ann Gibson for Matcha in partnership with Dr. Ron's Ultra-Pure.