Potchefstroom Campus alumnus Johan Lottering is a major role player in the supplement industry.

Potchefstroom Campus alumnus Johan Lottering sees health as an asset that has to be cared for just like any other asset.

The founding member of the nutrient supplement company Value Added Life doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to health. To say that it’s important to him is putting it mildly.

 

“We must invest in our assets,” says the 60-year-old entrepreneur who completed his degree in pharmacy at the former Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in 1979.

 

Born and raised in Krugersdorp, this former pharmacist has been in the supplement industry for the past 17 years.Value Added Life's most popular product, Procydin, has had consumers talking for many years. Procydin is a potent antioxidant with grape seed extract as its main element, but it also contains vitamin C and E.

 

The antioxidant that is extracted from grape seeds is called proanthocyanidin.

 

“My father-in-law and I stumbled upon it by accident on the internet. I've always wanted a factory and this was the ideal opportunity to commercialise proanthocyanidin in South Africa. My father-in-law is an engineer and I am a pharmacist, so things worked out perfectly.”

 

Grape seeds to the rescue

 

Proanthocyanidin, the core ingredient of Procydin, was initially extracted from pine tree bark, which was imported from France at astronomical cost. Grape seeds turned out to be a better alternative, and Johan and his father-in-law have never looked back.

 

“What  makes proanthocyanidin so unique is that it doesn’t form part of our normal diet. And yet it has many important properties. It can help to protect against cardiovascular disease, promote blood circulation in diabetics, normalise blood pressure, fight inflammation and reduce the pain associated with arthritis.

 

That acidic taste you get when you drink a glass of red wine? That is proanthocyanidin,” he says.

 

Procydin is not Value Added Life's only product. “We do have some other products, but we always knew that Procydin would be our flagship product, so that is where our focus lies,” says Johan.

 

Healthy and happy

 

Sitting at his company’s head office in Loots Park in Jeffreys Bay, he could not be more content.

 

“I am very happy. I have healthy children and a wonderful wife. Value Added Life is a relatively small company, which makes us very efficient,” he explains.

 

The business, he says, is one of the top five supplemental nutrient suppliers in the country.Procydin is now also sold in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Germany.

 

For whom would he recommend it?

“Our normal diets do not contain enough nutrients, so I would recommend it to anyone between the ages of five and 95.”

 

Whether in his gym at home or through Value Added Life, Johan is always living out his life’s motto: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

 

To your health!