Session Preview: Proactive Product Formulation for Lifelong Bone Integrity

As a preview of our upcoming The Outlook on Women’s Wellness, Nutritional Outlook interviewed Gene Bruno, DBM, MS, RH(AHG), Chief Scientific Officer with Nutraland USA. At the event, Bruno will present on “Proactive Product Formulation for Lifelong Bone Integrity.”

In this interview, Bruno reflects on his 47-year career in the dietary supplement industry, offering expert insights into the changing landscape of bone health. While traditional "calcium-centric" approaches remain a foundation, he emphasizes that manufacturers must now embrace more sophisticated, evidence-based strategies that account for specific life stages—from pre-menopause to the postmenopausal years.

A central theme of Bruno’s perspective is the industry’s historical failure to provide adequate clinical research specifically for women. He highlights the positive momentum generated by organizations like "Women in Nutraceuticals" (WIN) in championing gender-specific research. Looking ahead, Bruno advocates for a shift toward "practical, evidence-based" formulation that integrates innovative ingredients capable of addressing bone density and skeletal integrity more effectively. By moving beyond conventional formulas and utilizing rigorous clinical validation, he argues that the industry can better meet the complex health needs of an aging population, particularly in the critical category of women's health.

Learn more and register for the conference here.

A transcript of his conversation can be found below.

Nutritional Outlook: Could you tell us a little about your professional background?

Gene Bruno:I have been in the dietary supplement industry for 47 years. I started out doing retail management, vitamin stores, and then progressed into training and into science and regulatory. During that time, 40 of my 47 years I spent doing, amongst my various responsibilities, product formulation, and I formulated products for many, many brands out there.

For 20 of my years in the industry, I've also taught part time at the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy and Huntington University of Health Sciences, teaching nutraceutical science to predominantly healthcare professionals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and so forth. I am currently the chief scientific officer for Nutraland USA, which is an ingredient company selling evidence-based ngredients with clinical research to support it. I love this industry. It's what I've always done. I can't imagine doing anything else except occasionally some karaoke for fun.

Nutritional Outlook: What are some of the key takeaways or lessons you want attendees to get from your presentation?

Bruno: What I hope to leave attendees with are some real, practical pieces of information that they can use in formulating good dietary supplements for bone health across the spectrum of pre-menopausal and postmenopausal. So that means not just the usual suspects like calcium, but one of the things I've learned over the years is you can formulate a fantastic product using the usual suspects.

In doing so, it may work very well, but it's kind of a yawn. People are like, oh yeah, it's just calcium. It's just this, it's nothing exciting. You have to have some sexy elements to it. You need some ingredients that maybe aren't as commonly used or that are trending or hot in order to make the formula engaging.

Now, that doesn't mean that those ingredients shouldn't have clinical research to support it. They absolutely should. Just because it's trending, if there's no research to support it, don't include it. I'll only present ingredients with human clinical research supporting its efficacy for the purpose intended, namely improving bone density or other parameters of bone health across the spectrum of younger through postmenopausal women.

Nutritional Outlook: What excites you about the women's health category?

Bruno: There's a couple of areas. One is just the fact that women's health has been really trending over the last few years. When I was at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim this past March, I went around to, as part of my "Vitamin Professor" podcast, I interviewed about 14 different people asking them what was hot and trending at the show based on their observations.

One of the most common answers I got back was women's health products. Women's health is trending. It's a big area. People are really, really interested in that, so I'm very pleased to see that happening. Another area that I'm very pleased to see some changes in are research. When you're doing clinical research for so many years, it was just research on men. Well, now you're seeing a lot more research on women.

In fact, with Nutraland, we've got a study that we're just starting and it has to do with a study on sleep. It's all on postmenopausal women. It is. I think that that's really, really important. Women have gotten sort of the bum end of the deal when it comes to research, and you need to have more research being done on women. I'm pleased to see that that's happening, that that's something that's going on.

I would just also add that now you have WIN, Women in Nutraceuticals, who among other things, are taking steps to help promote these very areas, The importance of women in actual clinical research. as well as the fact that women's health is trending in other areas. A special thank you goes out to Jacqueline, Dr. Jacqueline Jacques, a friend of mine who invited me to speak at this conference.