10 Years of Omega3 Innovations: Looking Back and Forward to the Future

I’ve always loved Thanksgiving as a holiday when I take time to reflect and count my blessings. But this Thanksgiving, I am feeling more sentimental than usual. That’s because 2016 marks Omega3 Innovations’ 10th year in business.

When Bo and I first launched Omega3 Innovations in 2006, we got a lot confused looks when we introduced ourselves and our new product Omega Cure®. What were two physicians doing selling cod liver oil? Sometimes, I wondered that myself as Bo and I found that running a company in the United States was a very different experience than managing our medical practices in Norway.

As we have grown and innovated, made mistakes and tasted the sweetness of success, we’ve felt privileged to have an extraordinary community of support behind us. Yes, we’re talking about you, our loyal customers.

For the last decade, we have been blessed by your willingness to share your stories with us. And your honest feedback about our products, packaging, and even product names has been incredibly valuable. As Bo says, it is the close connection we have with our customers that makes Omega3 Innovations unique as a supplement company. I agree with that. You have allowed us to not only keep improving our current processes and products, but develop new ideas with only a small team.

This Thanksgiving, we’ve decided, for fun, to put together some highlights from the past 10 years. And walking down memory lane, I’m feeling excited for what the next decade brings.

2006

We launched our fresh, full-spectrum Omega Cure. The bottles were a bit different back then. But even at that time, they were in a class of their own. When we brought Omega Cure to a show for physicians practicing Integral Holistic Medicine in Las Vegas, our bottles were stolen from our booth overnight. We assume that whoever took the bottles must have believed they contained expensive liquor. Whoever the perpetrator was, we’re sure they were overjoyed to discover the real contents.

2007 – 2008

We started developing the Omega Cookie® in an effort to explore alternative delivery systems for our Omega Cure oil. After all, if we could get enough omega-3 in a meal form, then people might find it a more accessible way to get their daily dose.

Making the Omega Cookies proved to be challenging though. We threw out hundreds of batches that first year in an attempt to make a cookie that didn’t have any fishy taste or smell. By 2008, we were making progress. We conducted our first pilot study on a group of nearly 100 people eating an Omega Cookie daily to assess the difference in their omega-3 index and triglyceride levels.

2009 – 2010

Our Omega Cookie studies continued as we explored their effects on people with gum disease and children with special needs. These were also the hard hit recession years. We felt the strain on our company as people tightened their spending.

2011 – 2012

After realizing it would be wise to name our company something that described what we did and who we were, we switched from Ambo Health to Omega3 Innovations. With the new name came a new website and two new products: the Omega Passion® chocolate truffles and Omega Heaven® chocolate-covered cookies.

2013 – 2014

These were two big years. After six years of development and waiting, we finally received the patent on the technology that allowed us to create the Omega Cookie, Omega Heaven and Omega Passion. We also won the SupplySide Editor’s Choice Awards, an international award for omega-3 innovation with our Omega Heaven cookie. For our family-owned, 12-person company, it was an honor to win first place in the face of several multinational corporation competitors.

2015

We launched our Customer of the Month series. We also conducted a pilot study with a local middle school to explore the benefits of Omega Heaven and Omega Cookie. But the biggest issue at hand was product development.

Ever since we launched Omega Cure, Bo and I were particularly interested in having the oil presented in a uniform, single-serving dose. Not only was this important because such a dose would be travel-friendly. We also knew that a pre-measured dose was important for making our customer’s experience consistent and for doing future research. After much trial and tribulation about filling machines and what containers to use, we finally launched our Omega Cure Extra Strength vials.

2016

This 10th year, we are looking to the future as we’re developing a new generation of products that combine our fresh Omega Cure with melatonin. Some of you have tried these products already. For those eager to learn more, we’ll be releasing more information in the coming weeks.

To all of you, have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving. Thank you for all that you give to us and for making Omega3 Innovations part of your path to better health.