Joel Kocher didn’t plan to lead a supplement company. After retiring from a successful career leading public technology companies, he found himself drawn back into business by a scientific discovery, specifically nitric oxide research emerging from the University of Texas.

That decision ultimately led to the creation of Humann, a brand rooted in clinical science that has positioned cardiovascular health as more than just a concern for aging populations.

Today, Humann products featuring ingredients like beetroot and French grape seed extract are available in about 30,000 retail locations and thousands of medical professional offices. With more than 700 million doses delivered and 27 million products sold, the company’s supplements are used by more than 200 professional and collegiate athletic programs.

Kocher, CEO and co-founder of Humann, discussed the company’s origins and trajectory in a recent interview with Nutraceuticals World.

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A Science-Driven Start

The company’s roots trace back to nitric oxide (NO) research pioneered by Dr. Ferid Murad, who shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering NO’s role as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system. In the early 2000s, Murad launched a discovery program at the University of Texas focused on NO production, particularly through plant-based pathways.

Humann was established in 2009 with a license to commercialize work from a University of Texas Health Science Center research program built around that science. The company launched its first product in 2010 and began investing in academic research, clinically studied ingredients, and physician-aligned innovation.

Kocher said the company committed early to a science-first approach, even before generating meaningful revenue.

“We’ve really made the investments in doing this the right way,” he said. “We were investing in clinical trials when we didn’t have any sales.”

To date, the company has conducted double-digit clinical trials and built a scientific advisory structure that includes cardiology and other medical expertise. Murad later joined Humann’s Scientific Advisory Board in 2021, further strengthening the brand’s scientific credentials.

Kocher contrasted Humann’s strategy with what he described as a divide within the supplement industry between science-driven companies and those focused primarily on marketing.

“We decided that we were going to do it the right way, which ended up being the hard way, but the right way,” he said. “We were going to make major investments over the long term in science.”

Educating the Consumer

While clinical validation helped establish credibility, communicating the benefits of NO and plant-based cardiovascular support required sustained consumer education.

“Educating the consumer is expensive. It’s not just hard,” Kocher said. “But my philosophy has always been to play long ball and do the hard things, because that’ll pay off later.”

That long-term strategy has taken more than a decade to fully materialize. The company’s growth, he said, depended on helping consumers understand that plant-based ingredients could play a meaningful role in cardiovascular health, an area traditionally dominated by pharmaceutical interventions.

“Traditionally, blood pressure and cardiovascular health had been more of a pharmaceutical application than a supplement application,” Kocher said. “I really believe the reason you can walk into an upscale restaurant today and order a beet salad is because of the cumulative investment we’ve made in educating people to correlate healthy hearts with beets.”

Beyond Beets

Although Humann gained early recognition through its SuperBeets brand, Kocher emphasized that the company never intended to be defined solely by a single ingredient or use case.

“The company was not founded as a beet company,” he said. “One of our brands was SuperBeets, and it just took off. But in some sense, that could also be a limiter, because we want to be more than just blood pressure from beets. We’re a science-based, science-forward brand, and we wanted to extend into other condition states in the cardiovascular realm.”

To support that broader positioning, Humann recently introduced updated packaging and branding designed to elevate the corporate brand and reinforce its focus on overall cardiovascular performance. The effort also coincided with expanded distribution and product innovation targeting cholesterol, vascular health, and metabolic support.

“We wanted our brand to be unique and recognizable,” Kocher said. “That’s why we rebranded.”

Navigating Economic Headwinds

Despite recent industry challenges tied to inflation, tariffs, and global supply chain disruptions, Kocher said Humann has remained relatively insulated due to its domestic sourcing strategy.

“Almost without exception, we source everything in the United States,” he said. “So we’ve not really been exposed the way many people in the industry are, especially those importing ingredients from China.”

That approach has helped the company maintain consistent pricing as well. According to Kocher, its flagship SuperBeets product has remained at the same price point since its launch in 2017.

“Our prices have been very constant,” he said.

Reframing Cardiovascular Health

Looking ahead, Kocher said Humann is focused on expanding into additional cardiovascular-related condition states while reshaping how consumers think about heart health.

“When people hear ‘cardiovascular,’ they think heart and older,” he said. “But you have 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body servicing trillions of cells. Whether you’re 8, 18, or 88, the cardiovascular system is the superhighway for oxygen and nutrients.”

That broader view positions cardiovascular health as foundational to overall performance rather than a category limited to aging populations. The company is applying that concept across product development and marketing initiatives.

Last year, Humann deepened its partnership with the University of Texas by collaborating with the athletic department. The initiative places the brand within collegiate sports environments, where younger athletes use the company’s products.

“When you turn on your TV to watch a University of Texas football game, there’s one brand name on that field — ours,” Kocher said. “In 130 years of playing football there, there’s never been a brand name on that field. We’re illustrating that cardiovascular health is the performance highway of the human body.”

Technology, Data, and the Future

Kocher also sees growing alignment between wearable technology and the company’s science-based positioning. As consumers gain access to personal health metrics such as blood pressure, endurance, and cholesterol markers, he believes measurable outcomes will reinforce interest in cardiovascular support.

“Our assumption is adoption will continue to accelerate,” he said. “Awareness is the key. Every human being is the CEO of their own body.”

As technology evolves, Kocher said the ability to track health metrics in real time supports Humann’s value proposition.

“What we do is measurable. Cholesterol is measurable, blood pressure is measurable, endurance is measurable. That’s a plus for us,” he said.

The company is also incorporating artificial intelligence tools internally, though Kocher characterized their use as practical rather than transformative.

“We use it the way everyone else does: to make our team more productive,” he said. “You’re not a very good leader if you’re not embracing technology. We’re embracing it in an applicable way.”

As Humann expands beyond its flagship products and continues to invest in clinical science, Kocher said the company’s long-term goal remains consistent: reposition cardiovascular health as a core component of performance and everyday wellness for consumers across all life stages.