A Nailsworth entrepreneur is launching a daily nutrition drink after a mystery illness brought his half-marathon training to an abrupt halt three years ago.
Phil Brown, 50, will attend the Stroud Half Marathon this Sunday to cheer on friends and hand out flyers for Liv100, a supplement he has developed for adults aged 45 and over.
The product is due to launch in November, initially with 100 founding members. Brown says Stroud is the starting point for the business and wants the first 100 members to come from the area.
Illness led to a search for a different supplement
Brown, a former charity chief executive and senior adviser to government, PwC and the UK Space Agency, was 47 when he woke one morning with locked fingers. Within weeks, inflammation had spread to his wrists, elbows, shoulders and hips.
Six months of medical tests ruled out autoimmune disease but did not identify the cause. The experience led Brown to investigate research into nutrition and ageing, while changing his diet, sleep and exercise routine.
He then began looking for a daily supplement that combined the ingredients he wanted in one product. Unable to find one that met his requirements, he decided to create his own.
Liv100 has been made in the UK and developed with co-founder Dr Jenna Jamal, an Oxford chemistry graduate who has a PhD in organic chemistry from Imperial College London.
What Liv100 contains and when it will be available
Each daily scoop contains more than 100 ingredients across seven complexes. They include vitamins and minerals, creatine, fermented plants and fibre, as well as ingredients marketed for longevity, skin health and eye health.
The company says it wants ingredient quantities to be transparent, with every dose printed on the packaging.
Founding members are due to receive their first pouches in mid-November, before the product is generally released. People can sign up at liv100.co.uk before Sunday, November 8, to become a founding member.
The first 100 people to subscribe when ordering opens on Monday, November 9, will receive their first three months at half price.
Brown said: “I’m not your usual supplement founder. I spent my career in government and international development, and three years ago my own health stopped me in my tracks. What I found when I went looking, was a market full of products built for everyone and no one, with the doses that matter hidden or underpowered.
“I wanted top-quality daily nutrition that also took on the drivers of ageing, for men and women in their 40s, 50s and beyond. Science before marketing, ingredients before celebrities, community before advertising. So we built it, for ourselves and for people like us, and the people they care about.”
Invitation to Stroud Half Marathon runners and spectators
Brown said the product’s roots in Stroud made the local launch particularly important.
“Stroud is where this started, so it’s where we’d like the first 100 to come from.”
He added: “If you’re at the Half on Sunday and feel age catching up, come and find me. I’ll be the one with the flyers.”
Liv100 is a food supplement, not a medicine, and does not treat any medical condition.
