Our approach

Our entire approach can be summarised in three sentences. We tell you the milligrams. We use plants first. We build each formulation for a single specific job. Here is what each one means in practice.

1. We tell you the milligrams

Every active ingredient is named with the exact dose, on the front of every bottle. No proprietary blends. No "complex matrices." No "natural extract — adequate amount" hand-waving. If the clinical trial used 810mg of MSM, our MSM has 810mg of MSM. If the saw palmetto research required a 4:1 standardised extract at 320mg, that is what is in the bottle.

This sounds simple. The reason most supplement brands do not do it is that proprietary blends let manufacturers under-dose expensive actives behind a single combined milligram figure. A 1000mg "Joint Complex" might contain 950mg cheap filler and 50mg of the active that actually does the work. We refuse to participate in that.

Practical commitment: every Vivid product page shows the active milligrams. Every Vivid label shows the active milligrams. Both numbers match. Every batch is tested by an independent third-party laboratory and the certificate of analysis is available on request.

2. We use plants first

Where a plant extract has the evidence, we use it. Where it does not, we use the standardised active. We do not use whole-plant powders out of romanticism, and we do not use synthetic isolates because they are cheaper. We use whatever has the strongest clinical evidence for the specific outcome.

The decision tree for every Vivid formulation:

1. Is there a high-quality randomised controlled trial on this ingredient for this outcome? If no, we do not include it.
2. What form did the trial use? Standardised extract, whole-plant powder, isolated active, food-source nutrient. We use the form the evidence supports.
3. What was the trial dose? We match it. Not a token amount. Not an "effective range" hedge.
4. Vegetable capsules where applicable. Sugar-free. No artificial colourants. South African manufactured in a SAHPRA-aligned facility.

This is why Vivid Tranquil pairs magnesium glycinate (the form with the strongest sleep evidence) with passion flower and valerian (the herbs with the strongest sleep evidence) at the trial doses — and not with melatonin, despite melatonin being the most popular ingredient in the category.

3. We build for a single specific job

Each Vivid formulation does one thing. No "everything wellness" stacks. No "mens daily multivitamin" with 47 ingredients at sub-therapeutic doses. If you take a Vivid bottle, you know precisely what outcome you are working on.

This is the opposite of the supermarket multivitamin model, which tries to be everything to everyone by including small amounts of many ingredients. The problem with that model is that the doses are too low to do anything for any one outcome, and there is no way to titrate the ingredients you actually need.

Our 52 formulations cover eight outcome categories: Gut Health, Immunity, Energy & Vitality, Stress/Sleep & Mood, Joints & Mobility, Womens Health, Mens Health, and Daily Nutrients. Pick the outcome you are working on. Pick the formulation built for it. Take it for 6–8 weeks. Assess. Adjust.

Where we manufacture

Vivid Health products are manufactured in Centurion, South Africa, in a SAHPRA-aligned facility that has been producing supplements for the Onelife Health retail chain since 1996. The facility is GMP-aligned, third-party audited, and processes only oral solid-dose supplement formulations (capsules and powders) — not combined with topical skincare, not co-manufactured with veterinary products. This matters because contamination risk is lowest in dedicated facilities.

Every batch is independently tested for identity (is it actually what we said it is), potency (does it actually contain the milligrams we claim), and heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury). Pass results are required before release. Fail results are quarantined and reprocessed or discarded.

Where we source from

Plant material is sourced primarily from Southern African producers where the local climate matches the plants native conditions — including Cape Aloe Ferox, Devils Claw from Namibia, Honeybush and Rooibos. Imported actives where unavoidable (omega-3 from cold-water marine sources, ashwagandha from India, valerian from the Western Cape but originally European) are sourced from suppliers with documented quality control and confirmed organic or wild-harvest certification.

We do not buy bulk powders from third-party traders who cannot trace their material. This means our cost of goods is higher than competitors who do, and we choose to absorb that cost rather than compromise on traceability.

Who designed these formulations

Vivid formulations are designed by the Onelife Health naturopath team — qualified South African practitioners who have been advising customers in our Centurion, Glen Village, and Edenvale retail stores for decades. The decision criteria for every formulation is: what would we recommend to a customer who walked into the store with this specific goal?

That practitioner-grounded approach is why our Stress, Sleep & Mood formulation is called Tranquil (and not "Mental Health Plus Complex"), and why our joint formulation is called Flexijoint Advanced (not "Joints & Mobility Daily Synergy Matrix"). The language matches how a real person would describe what the product is for.

What the dose-stated promise costs us

Being radically transparent has trade-offs:

• Our customers can comparison-shop on dose per rand — we welcome this
• Our cost of goods is higher than blend-based competitors
• We cannot make vague "supports immune function" claims at low doses to fill catalogue range — every Vivid product must justify its dose with evidence
• Some ingredients we would love to formulate around (e.g. NMN, glutathione) are not yet supported by strong enough clinical evidence at affordable doses — so we wait

These trade-offs are why most supplement brands do not do this. They are also why the customers who do their homework choose Vivid.

Questions a careful customer should ask any supplement brand

1. What is the dose of each active ingredient? (If they will not tell you, walk away.)
2. What form of the active is used? (Magnesium oxide is not magnesium glycinate.)
3. Is the dose in the bottle the same as the dose used in the clinical trial?
4. Where is it manufactured?
5. Is the batch tested by an independent laboratory? Can I see the certificate?
6. Are there any actives that are not on the front-of-label?

We can answer yes to all six on every Vivid product. Most brands cannot answer yes to half. We think you deserve to know which is which.