Twenty years ago Sandra Witzel received a diagnosis which would change her life. After living in pain for a year Sandra learnt she had rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporisis, two chronic conditions which forced her life to change as she struggled with the pain of her conditions and the side effects of her medication.
However, after trying to live with chronic illness Sandra decided there must be a better way which didn't leave her struggling with daily tasks. With the help of a dietician Sandra looked into creating a supplement range which would ease her symptoms and give her back some of the freedom she enjoyed before her illness.
After years of research Sandra now has an award-winning supplement range - which beat larger and more established companies at a recent industry awards ceremony to walk away with four awards - and is planning to expand her company's product range. The 2022 Nourish Awards recognised all three of the products from Sandra's Positive Science People supplement range.
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For the German-born founder, perfecting and producing her formulas had been several years in the making. Speaking to Bristol Live, she said: “My quality of life was just gone for a very long time. I kind of call it the underworld of chronic illness that you enter once you have a chronic condition which is painful and debilitating. Your whole life changes- everything that you did the day before you suddenly can’t do anymore.
“There’s a really great quote that says ‘good health gives you freedom you thought you never had until you lose it’ and that was very true for me. My life certainly changed quite drastically because I was suddenly struggling to walk, just doing regular tasks like getting dressed, working and doing my grocery shopping. Those little things that you don’t really think about.”
Sandra adds that despite her long-term struggles, she simply did not want to give up. She hoped that through embarking her journey into wellness, would offer her answers- even if they were not necessarily cures.
Sandra said: “Currently, there’s no cure for arthritis, but I thought that there must be ways to improve my own quality of life. So I went on a whole research mission to find out what I can do to make myself feel better and I met a lot of amazing health practitioners, doctors, pharmacists over the years.
“I took a little bit from all of them and sort of came up with my own plan on what works for me. But what I realised in some stage was that I was taking about 20 different supplements- which is quite the logistical effort. You always have to make sure that you don't run out and they’re expensive to buy.
“I looked at my supplement cupboard and thought, ‘Hang on, there must be an easier way to do this’ and surely there are more people like me out there who believe in the role of supplementation as a complementary measure to support your health.
“That’s really how I came about the idea to start Positive Science People and create these supplements that already have a lot of the ingredients in them that work together to address a certain area of someone’s health.”
After growing up in Germany, Sandra had lived in several countries around the world, from Australia to the US, where she had already begun planning developments for her soon-to-be business.
Upon moving to the UK a few years prior, Sandra states that the idea for her supplement company was formalised while she was based in London, and relocating to Bristol had further influenced Sandra to officially establish Positive Science People.
She said: “Bristol is really interesting because it has a creative vibe and you have so much access to certain services. Bristol has this entrepreneurial, creative spirit that I really enjoy- that’s really inspiring.”
Positive Science People has three products, Gut Health, Joint Care and Energy Release, which all received acclaim in the Nourish Awards 2022. Sandra says that her brand’s unique formulation, combining 18 probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes and botanicals, is set to prove her products to be both high-quality and affordable.
As the debate continues regarding which dietary supplements to avoid or use, or perhaps their efficiency in general, Sandra says that depending on your needs, there can be merit to certain vitamins and supplements.
She said: “In the UK, supplements are classified as food supplements and they fall under the food category- that’s how they’re regulated. We can’t make any health claims. For example, we can’t say that a piece of broccoli will cure your painful knee and it’s the same with supplements.
“The few red flags for me when I look at other supplements are the claims they make, like promising a cure. That’s not very professional and it's quite shady. So anyone who makes really over the top claims on their products- that’s not good business practice and it's not credible.
“We also have a problem as Amazon is the biggest supplement market in the UK and there are so many companies trying to sell their supplements and copying each other. You don’t really know where the products come from, who makes them, have they been tested- it's really hard.
“And then also the information consumers get on what supplements are important, changes as well overtime. These days, even the NHS recommends that people take Vitamin D3 at the very least during winter - that wasn’t the case a few years ago. Supplement information and our knowledge on supplements and ingredients also change overtime.
“What we’re trying to do is take all the hard work out for the consumer and just say ‘Here’s the product that has all the good stuff already in it, in the amounts that you need and in the quality that you need. My quality control is myself because I take all these products- I haven’t developed a product yet that I’m not taking myself.
“That’s how we go about it to make sure people see that there is the science which is available and this ingredient has been researched. That’s why we put it into our product.”
Following her company’s sweeping win at The Nourish Awards, Sandra is looking forward to what’s next in store. Calling the prestigious industry recognition a ‘wonderful celebration of all the hard work’, she feels that the awards represent far more than being financially successful.
Instead, she sees her newest achievements as a positive influence in promoting better health to people. With Positive Science People currently producing a fourth product, as well as setting up an online wellness hub to educate customers about the world of supplements and diets, Sandra is hopeful for her brand to break further heights- while making a difference in many lives in the process.
She said: “It’s been an interesting process because I’ve never been an entrepreneur before. I’m sort of reluctant to say that good things came out of this health condition because it’s really awful- but that’s really been the case. It’s brought out the entrepreneur in myself and this ambition that I have to create something and to build my own business.
“I didn’t realise I had that and I’m really proud of that because I’ve been dealt with a really bad hand health wise. I’m managing at least partly to turn that into something that’s positive and productive. And getting to do this with my husband who’s my business partner has been really exciting because we work really well together.”
Offering advice to those who are keen on bettering their health or possibly work in the health industry, Sandra adds: “You have to educate yourself, and then with that education, you have to build a team of advisers around you to help achieve the best health you can. And don’t give up, even if you feel like giving up, just don’t.
“Maybe just take a breather on that day and get up the next day to try again. And for those who want to enter the health space or want to become an entrepreneur in general- surround yourself with good people. The road to entrepreneurship, especially health entrepreneurship because it’s a competitive market, is very bumpy.
“There will be a lot of things on the way you would never have expected that will suddenly become a problem. But also the learning curve is also amazing- the things I’ve learned over the years are incredible. I know so much more about manufacturing, about shipping, about legal, about customer service, about digital marketing.
“What makes it all worthwhile is just one customer sending you an email saying ‘Oh my God I feel so much better’ and just knowing that you helped someone make their lives a tiny bit easier is an incredible feeling.”
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