Nature's Sunshine Products, Incorporated (NASDAQ: NATR), also known as "NSP," is a manufacturer and marketer of encapsulated natural health supplements, including herbs, vitamins, minerals, Chinese, Ayurvedic and homeopathic remedies, water filters, cookware, natural personal care & cleaning products, etc. It is based in Provo, Utah with a manufacturing facility in Spanish Fork, Utah.
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Nature's Sunshine was founded in 1972 by the Hughes family, who started encapsulating capsicum in their home kitchen. The company employs a direct marketing, or multi-level marketing, business model in which their products are primarily sold to the consumer by independent distributors who receive commissions based on their own sales and management bonuses based upon the sales of any distributors they may have sponsored.
The company is divided into various segments in the U.S., including a U.S. Sales division, a Spanish language division, and an International division which oversees the corporation's foreign subsidiaries.
NSP also owns Synergy Worldwide, a direct marketing company that also sells nutritional supplements. Products for both companies are manufactured in a production and research facility located in Spanish Fork, Utah.
The Nature’s Sunshine online shop provides various health supplements including:
Nature’s Sunshine, one of The Little Heroes Foundation’s original sponsors, regularly donates time, money and supplements to the organization’s efforts. The foundation plans and carries out projects that improve educational, medical and living conditions for children. As an organization, their mission is to “create a better world.” Located in Provo, Utah, the foundation stretches beyond their immediate community by improving the lives of children across the globe. In the past, Little Heroes has actively made a difference by renovating a hospital for orphaned children, building a school in Africa, administering medical expeditions, organizing gift drives and providing scholarships for university students.
Recently, Nature’s Sunshine has assisted Little Heroes with the renovation of a children’s hospital in Lyubertsy, Russia. The hospital is a treatment center and home for many sick, orphaned children. The renovation has successfully improved the lives of many underprivileged children.
Reaching out to a different continent, Nature’s Sunshine teamed with the foundation to establish the Little Heroes Academy in Mali, Africa. Mali falls among the world’s 25 poorest counties—with very limited educational opportunities. This new academy will serve as a resource for nearly 200 children each year to receive a standard education.
Nature’s Sunshine, through the Little Heroes Foundation, has donated large quantities of a vitamin supplement called Silver Shield to children in Ghana. [1][2]
On July 31, 2009, the company agreed to pay $600,000 in fines after being charged by the SEC with having bribed Brazilian officials with more than $1,000,000 in 2000 and 2001. This was done "so it could import unregistered nutritional products into the country, and then falsified its books to hide the payments."[3][4]