Udo Erasmus is the founder and face of Udo’s Choice, a range of products kickstarted by the omega-rich oil blend developed in the 1990s. Erasmus was born during the Second World War and after a varied career discovered a passion for health and wellness and for educating others on his findings. He shows no signs of letting up, continuing to give talks on healthy fats and nutrition.
Erasmus has published several books on healthy fats, including: Fats and Oils; Fats That Heal Fats That Kill; Choosing the Right Fats; and Omega 3 Cuisine. In the course of writing these books, the industry expert developed healthy whole food supplements for dogs, cats, and horses, followed by the beloved Udo’s Choice Ultimate Oil blend in 1994. This blend of fats is better balanced than simple flax oil or fish oil. Instead, it provides all of the essential omega fatty acids – 3, 6, and 9 – in a balanced ratio ideal for supporting optimal health.
Following the success of the oil blend, Erasmus developed probiotic blends and digestive enzyme formulas in the late 1990s, along with prebiotic fiber and greens blends. Together, these formulas address four key pillars of health, ones that are often neglected or overlooked: essential ‘healthy’ fats, phytonutrients from bitter greens, microbiotics, and digestive enzymes.
Leading the way in healthy fats
Udo’s Choice has more than 30 years of experience in health education and product formulation and can be credited with introducing much of the world to the idea of healthy omega fatty acids.
Udo’s Choice use only premium ingredients and eschew unnecessary fillers and artificial ingredients to ensure maximum purity, quality, and potency. They use only cold-pressed, certified organic, and non-genetically modified (GM) seeds for their oil blends – no chemical extraction that can damage and contaminate the healthy fats. Their state-of-the-art processing facilities ensure that the oils are protected against light and oxygen, reducing the risk of lipid peroxidation (i.e., damage to the fats that reduces their health-giving properties and can even render them harmful to health).
Acknowledging the potential for fats to be damaged by light after they leave the processing plant, and for contamination from plastic bottles and other containers, Udo’s Choice package their oil blends and other products in dark recyclable glass bottles. Udo’s Choice also offers their Ultimate Oil blend in capsule form for convenience.
Beyond Udo’s Oil – Beyond Greens and Enzyme Blends
Udo's Choice also offers Beyond Greens – a nourishing and revitalising blend of certified organic greens, including fermented grasses, green vegetables and nutrient rich algae and seaweeds of spirulina, dulse and chlorella. This formula also offers digestive support thanks to a blend of herbs including alfalfa herb, ginger root, cinnamon bark and liquorice root, as well as fibre from flax, sunflower and sesame seeds.
The Udo’s Choice Digestive Enzyme range is also plant-based, with combination of essential enzymes that help with the breakdown of fats, carbohydrates, soluble fibre, starch, milk sugar and complex sugar. This helps you get more nutrients from your food and reduces the burden on the digestive system, helping with symptoms of indigestion and lowering the likelihood of incomplete protein digestion and food sensitivities as well as gas, bloating, and digestive discomfort.
These enzymes are available in Udo’s Choice signature glass bottles and as a convenient Travel Enzymes pack for use on the go, with no refrigeration required. Udo's Choice Enzymes Gold is a new, stronger formula that features nine plant-based digestive enzymes including three protein digesting enzymes including Alphagalactosidase. This is a great choice for supporting digestion if you’re an athlete who has to eat large amounts of food to meet caloric demands.
Microbiotics from Udo’s Choice
While rightfully famous for their Ultimate Oil blend, Udo’s Choice may well be the first company to create microbiotic (AKA probiotics) products designed specifically for different age groups, acknowledging that the human microbiome and our needs change with age. Their microbiotics range includes:
- Udo's Choice Adults Blend Microbiotic
- Udo's Choice Super 8 Microbiotics
- Udo's Choice Super 8 Gold Microbiotics
- Udo's Choice Infants Blend Microbiotics
- Udo's Choice Junior Blend Microbiotics
- Udo's Choice Adult 50+ Microbiotics
- Udo's Choice Super 5's Microbiotics.
These formulas feature beneficial bacteria to restore and replenish the gut microbiome in an age-appropriate way. Our microbiomes change throughout life, reflecting the health and needs of the immune system and digestion, as well as any impacts from antibiotic use, illnesses, diet, and other factors. Taking a daily probiotic can help support digestive and immune system health as well as hormonal health, the gut-brain axis and cognitive and emotional wellbeing, among other things.
Udo’s Choice Super 5’s contains five bacterial strains in a delicious raspberry flavour lozenge suitable for kids and adults. The lozenge form helps expose the oral cavity to beneficial bacteria, further supporting dental and gum health and the microbiome in the mouth and, by extension, the lungs.
The Super 8 blend contains eight bacterial strains designed specifically with a higher percentage and concentration of Lactobacillus acidophilus. The specific strains used in this formula were specially chosen to support upper bowel health and each vegetarian capsule contains 42 billion viable cells at time of manufacture and at least 31 billion viable cells at expiry.
For even greater potency, check out Udo’s Choice Super 8 Gold microbiotics. Each vegetarian capsule contains 102 billion viable cells at time of manufacture and at least 61 billion viable cells at expiry, with an emphasis on beneficial Bifidus strains to support lower bowel health.