The Great Health Buyout: Are We Watching Our Favorite Brands Disappear?

Or is this actually good news for the future of health?

Over the past week my inbox has been flooded with messages asking the same two questions:

"What do you think about Procter & Gamble buying Thorne?"

"Did you see the new avocado oil study?"

My answer?

Honestly... neither story surprised me.

One disappointed me.

The other actually gave me hope.

Let me explain.

Have You Noticed the Buying Spree?

Most people saw the announcement that Procter & Gamble is purchasing Thorne for approximately $3.8 billion and thought it was an isolated event.

It isn't.

It's part of a much larger trend that has been quietly happening over the past several years.

Just look at a handful of recent acquisitions:

Company Acquired              Purchased By                  Approximate Value 

Thorne.                                   Procter & Gamble.         $3.8 Billion

Jamieson Wellness.              Kirin Holdings.                $1.3 Billion

Grüns.                                     Unilever                           ~$500 Million

Vitabiotics.                             Nain Capital                    Over $1 Billion

Huel                                         Danone.                           $1.2 Billion

Alani Nu                                  Celsius                              $1.65–1.8 Billion

OWYN                                      Simply Good Foods       $280 Million

The Bountiful Company.      Nestlé.                             $5.75 Billion

And that's only scratching the surface.

Today many consumers don't realize just how many "health" brands are owned by a handful of multinational corporations.

Unilever now owns brands including:

• OLLY
• SmartyPants
• Liquid I.V.
• Nutrafol
• Onnit
• Grüns

Nestlé Health Science owns brands including:

• Garden of Life
• Pure Encapsulations
• Solgar
• Vital Proteins
• Orgain
• Persona Nutrition
• Nuun
• Nature's Bounty
• Ester-C
• Sundown
• Puritan's Pride
• Osteo Bi-Flex

...along with nutrition products most people already recognize like Boost and Carnation Breakfast Essentials.

Procter & Gamble owns:

• Metamucil
• Align
• Thorne (pending completion)

PepsiCo?

They've quietly been buying health-focused brands too, including companies like Bare Snacks, Siete Foods, Poppi, and many others.

Even Kraft Heinz entered the space with the acquisition of Primal Kitchen.

Needless to say...

The big buyouts are happening far more often than most of us realize.

Why This Makes Me Nervous

If you've followed the food industry long enough, you've probably seen the pattern.

A small company creates an amazing product.

Consumers fall in love with it.

A massive corporation buys it.

Then...

Slowly...

The ingredient list changes.

Manufacturing changes.

Suppliers change.

Sometimes the product becomes cheaper to make.

Sometimes quality slips.

Sometimes nothing changes at all—but often enough it does that experienced shoppers become skeptical.

That's why these acquisitions make so many people uneasy.

But There's Another Way to Look at It...

Here's where I may surprise you.

I actually think these acquisitions tell us something incredibly encouraging.

These billion-dollar corporations aren't buying health companies because they're feeling charitable.

They're buying them because people are spending money on health.

Consumers are voting with their wallets.

People are reading labels.

People are asking questions.

People care where their supplements come from.

People care about ingredients.

People care about metabolic health.

People care about nutrition.

That matters.

If companies are willing to spend billions of dollars acquiring health brands...

...that means they believe the future belongs to healthier products.

That's a huge cultural shift.

For decades, processed convenience foods dominated the market.

Now, healthier brands are valuable enough to command billion-dollar price tags.

That's worth celebrating.

My Thoughts on the Thorne Acquisition

Many people expected me to be upset.

Truthfully...

I'm fairly neutral.

I know this might surprise some people because Thorne has an excellent reputation among consumers.

But if you've worked in practitioner circles long enough, you hear conversations that never make it into marketing brochures.

Personally, I've never been a major Thorne advocate.

If I were ranking supplement companies, I'd place them in the "Good" category—not "Best."

They've simply never been one of the companies I routinely recommend to clients.

Quality matters.

Testing matters.

Ethics matter.

Company culture matters.

For me, choosing a supplement isn't just about what's on the label—it's also about the values behind the company.

So while the acquisition is certainly big industry news...

...it doesn't really change what I recommend in practice.

How I Decide Which Supplement Brands I Trust

People often ask me, "How do you know which supplement companies are actually good?"

The truth is... I do a lot more homework than most people realize.

The first thing I do is study the ingredient label. Is the form of the nutrient one that the body can actually use? Are there unnecessary fillers, dyes, or ingredients that make me question the product? Is the dosage evidence-based, or is it just there to make the label look impressive?

Next, I start researching the company itself. I'll use resources like ChatGPT to gather background information and identify questions worth asking, but I never stop there. AI can help point me in the right direction, but I always verify information directly with the company and other trusted sources.

Then I pick up the phone.

Seriously.

I call the company and ask to speak with someone who can answer my questions. During those conversations, I ask about:

• Where they source their ingredients.
• How they verify ingredient identity and purity.
• What testing is performed before, during, and after manufacturing.
• Whether they perform third-party testing and can provide Certificates of Analysis (COAs).
• Whether they use ISO-accredited laboratories.
• How they evaluate bioavailability and the forms of nutrients they choose.
• Whether they have published research, clinical trials, or other scientific data supporting their products.
• Their manufacturing standards and quality assurance processes.

But I don't stop with the science.

I also ask about the company itself.

What's their mission?

How do they treat their employees?

What values drive their decisions?

Because in my experience, how a company treats its people often says a lot about how it approaches quality and integrity. I want to recommend companies that care about more than just their profit margins.

Many practitioner-grade companies also host educational webinars and live trainings for healthcare professionals. I regularly attend these sessions—not because I expect every presentation to be perfect, but because I want to hear how they think, how they teach, how they answer difficult questions, and whether their actions align with their marketing.

So yes...

I proudly admit it.

I'm a supplement snob.

Not because I think everyone needs a cabinet full of supplements.

Quite the opposite.

I actually want people taking fewer supplements—but the ones they do take should be worth every penny.

One memory has stuck with me for decades. My aunt was a nurse, and she used to jokingly call the cheap multivitamins handed out in the hospital "bedpan bullets," because, in her words, "Most of it just ends up in the toilet."

Forty years later, I still think about that.

If you're going to spend your hard-earned money on a supplement, I want it to contain what the label says, be manufactured with integrity, and be in a form your body can actually absorb and use.

That's why I'm such a supplement snob.

Not because I love supplements.

Because I love people, and I want my family, my friends, my students, and my clients to have the very best opportunity to invest wisely in their health.

Then Came the Avocado Oil News...

This one honestly bothered me much more.

Researchers from the University of California, Davis evaluated a wide range of commercially available avocado oils to assess their quality and authenticity.

Using chemical analyses, they found that several products did not fully match what consumers would reasonably expect from the label. Some oils showed evidence of oxidation, while others appeared to contain characteristics suggesting lower-quality or mixed oils rather than pure avocado oil.

The findings reinforce that label claims alone don't always guarantee product integrity.

As someone who teaches families and high school students how to read food labels, that hit me pretty hard.

Because what do you tell people when the label itself isn't trustworthy?

That's a much bigger problem.

We Can't Outsource Discernment

I've spent years teaching families:

Read ingredients.

Read nutrition labels.

Look for quality.

Avoid unnecessary additives.

Those are still good habits.

But studies like this remind us that labels have limitations.

If adulteration occurs before a product ever reaches the shelf, even the best label reader can be fooled.

That realization feels like a punch in the gut.

Maybe It's Time for a Kitchen Revolution

Rather than becoming discouraged...

I think it's time we return to something our great-grandparents already knew.

Cook.

Use real ingredients.

Buy fewer packaged foods.

Learn simple recipes.

Take back the kitchen.

Homemade mayonnaise?

Five minutes.

Seriously.

Less time than driving to the grocery store.

And it tastes better.

You know every ingredient that went into it.

No mystery oils.

No hidden fillers.

No wondering whether the label matches what's inside.

That's incredibly empowering.

One of the easiest ways to avoid questionable seed oils and mislabeled cooking oils is to make your own mayonnaise. It takes less than five minutes, costs less than many premium brands, and lets you control every ingredient.

Easy Homemade Olive Oil (or Avocado Oil) Mayonnaise

Ingredients

• 1 whole egg
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup quality extra virgin olive oil (You can swap for Avocado oil or do half of each)
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Directions

Place everything in a wide-mouth mason jar.

Insert an immersion blender to the bottom.

Blend for about 15–20 seconds before slowly lifting the blender upward.

That's it.

Fresh mayonnaise in under five minutes.

Bacon Fat Mayo (my personal favorite)

For an old-fashioned twist, replace part of the olive oil with cooled, liquid bacon fat.

The result is rich, flavorful, and perfect for burgers, deviled eggs, or chicken salad.

So... Should We Panic?

No.

Should we pay attention?

Absolutely.

The health industry is changing quickly.

Some companies will stay committed to quality.

Others may slowly drift.

That's why I encourage my clients to work with practitioners who stay current, understand manufacturing, review testing, and evaluate products beyond marketing claims.

The Bottom Line

Here's the good news.

People are demanding healthier food.

People are demanding better supplements.

People are asking harder questions.

The billion-dollar acquisitions prove that.

Your dollars matter.

Your purchasing decisions matter.

The marketplace is listening.

Let's keep voting for real food, honest companies, transparent manufacturing, and businesses that genuinely value health.

And while we're at it...

Let's dust off those cutting boards, sharpen those kitchen knives, and start a little kitchen revolution.

Because one of the best ways to know what's in your food...

...is to make it yourself.

........We don't need to fear every acquisition.

We don't need to obsess over every news headline.

What we do need is wisdom.

Learn how to ask better questions.

Learn how to cook real food.

Learn how to identify companies that value quality.

Learn how to support your body with intention instead of marketing.

That's how we win the battle against chronic disease—not one supplement at a time, but one informed decision at a time.

References

Industry Acquisitions & Corporate Announcements

• Procter & Gamble Corporate Newsroom – Corporate announcements and investor news regarding Procter & Gamble's health and wellness portfolio. (Procter & Gamble)
• Reuters: P&G Buys Supplements Maker Thorne for $3.8 Billion – Coverage of Procter & Gamble's announced acquisition of Thorne and the broader supplement industry consolidation. (Reuters)
• Financial Times: P&G Seals $3.8 Billion Deal for Thorne – Analysis of the acquisition and its implications for the vitamins, minerals, and supplements (VMS) industry. (Financial Times)
• Wall Street Journal: P&G Agrees to Buy Supplements Maker for $3.8 Billion – Reporting on the strategic rationale behind the acquisition and the continued expansion of major consumer packaged goods companies into health and wellness. (The Wall Street Journal)

Peer-Reviewed Research

• Wang, S., et al. Applied Food Research (2026). Authenticity of Avocado Oil in Processed Foods Marketed as Containing Avocado Oil. University of California, Davis. (The study evaluating the authenticity of avocado oil used in chips, mayonnaise, and salad dressings.) (UC Davis)

University Resources

• University of California, Davis – "That Avocado Oil Chip You're Eating May Not Be Made With Pure Avocado Oil" – Summary of the university's 2026 research on avocado oil authenticity in processed foods. (UC Davis) Published Study
• University of California, Davis – 2020 Study: "Study Finds 82 Percent of Avocado Oil Rancid or Mixed With Other Oils" – Earlier UC Davis investigation documenting authenticity and oxidation concerns in bottled avocado oil. (UC Davis)

Additional Reading

• Food & Wine: Think You're Paying for Avocado Oil? A New Study Says Maybe Not – Consumer-friendly overview of the UC Davis findings and why ingredient verification matters. (Food & Wine)
• Food Safety Magazine: UC Davis Researchers Find Widespread Authenticity Issues With Avocado Oil in Processed Foods – Industry discussion of the research and implications for food manufacturers and consumers. (Food Safety)
  

Educational Disclaimer

This article is intended for educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as medical or nutritional advice. Always consult your physician or another qualified healthcare professional before making significant changes to your diet, supplements, or healthcare routine.

Author's Note: Company ownership, acquisitions, product formulations, and manufacturing practices can change over time. The information presented in this article reflects publicly available information at the time of publication. An acquisition alone does not necessarily indicate changes in product quality, ingredient sourcing, or manufacturing standards. Consumers are encouraged to continue reviewing products, asking questions, and consulting qualified healthcare professionals when selecting dietary supplements

In this article you'll learn:

• Why major corporations are buying supplement companies
• What the UC Davis avocado oil study found
• Why reading labels isn't always enough
• How I evaluate supplement companies before recommending them
• Why cooking more food at home is becoming more important than ever