Most wellness brands talk about science. Shaklee has spent nearly 70 years producing it: peer-reviewed studies in respected journals, a research partnership with NASA, formulas tested against standards stricter than the law requires, and a founder who created the first multivitamin in the United States. This page lays out the evidence, with sources, so you can judge it for yourself.
It started with a scientist, in 1915
Shaklee’s science predates the company itself. In 1915, Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee developed Vitalized Minerals, widely recognized as one of the first multivitamin products created in the United States. He was decades ahead of the mainstream: the word “vitamin” had only just entered scientific use. When he founded Shaklee Corporation in 1956, he built it on a principle he called Living in Harmony with Nature, the idea that the best nutrition and the healthiest products work with biology rather than against it.
That founding philosophy still shapes the company. In 1961, Shaklee created the first plant protein. The throughline from a single nutritionist’s conviction in 1915 to a modern research operation is rare in the wellness industry, and it is the foundation everything else here is built on.
The Landmark Study: peer-reviewed proof
The single most important piece of evidence behind Shaklee is the Landmark Study, one of the largest studies ever conducted on long-term users of multiple dietary supplements. It was not produced in-house and quietly shelved. It was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, led by acclaimed nutrition epidemiologist Dr. Gladys Block, and published in the peer-reviewed Nutrition Journal in 2007.
The researchers compared long-term Shaklee supplement users against two groups drawn from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): people who took no supplements, and people who took a single multivitamin. After adjusting for age, gender, education, income, and body mass index, the results were striking. Compared with non-users, long-term Shaklee users had:
- 33% lower triglyceride levels
- 59% lower levels of C-reactive protein, a key marker of inflammation
- 36% lower levels of homocysteine
- 11% lower cholesterol ratios
They were also more likely to have optimal concentrations of chronic-disease-related biomarkers and less likely to have elevated blood pressure or diabetes. In most measures, the single-supplement group fell between the two, which suggested that comprehensive, consistent supplementation was both safe and meaningfully different from a basic multivitamin. This is the difference between marketing and evidence: a named university, a named lead researcher, a respected journal, and a citation anyone can look up.
Trusted by NASA
Few consumer wellness claims can be checked against government archives. This one can. Shaklee’s relationship with NASA goes back more than three decades, and the documentation lives on NASA’s own Technical Reports Server.
When astronauts return from space, many experience General Re-entry Syndrome: vertigo, fatigue, disequilibrium, and gastrointestinal discomfort caused by fluid loss in microgravity. NASA needed a rehydration solution that would restore body fluids and plasma volume more effectively than the old approach of salt tablets and water. Shaklee scientists, including physiologist John Greenleaf, developed Astro-Ade, an isotonic electrolyte solution engineered for exactly that challenge. The research formulating and evaluating these rehydration fluids was published as NASA technical reports, with Shaklee US, Inc. listed as the authors’ affiliation.
The relationship did not end there. Shaklee products have flown on NASA missions since 1993, and astronaut Mark Kelly carried Shaklee Vitalizer aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. When an organization as rigorous and risk-averse as NASA chooses a nutrition partner, that is a meaningful third-party signal of quality.
Quality standards that surpass the law
The supplement industry is famously uneven: independent testing regularly finds products that do not contain what their labels claim, or that contain contaminants they should not. Shaklee’s response has been to test far beyond what regulations require.
Shaklee’s quality standards surpass the US Pharmacopeia and meet US FDA and California Proposition 65 requirements. Every product undergoes extensive testing, and batches are screened for hundreds of potential contaminants, including heavy metals and other impurities, after final packaging, so that anything introduced during manufacturing or packaging would be caught before a product ships. This matters because “natural” is not the same as “safe”: nature is also where heavy metals and other contaminants originate, which is why testing, not just sourcing, is what actually protects you. Across its history, Shaklee reports more than 110 clinical studies and over 70 patents and patents pending, alongside a research investment measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
This is the practical meaning of the phrase you will sometimes hear associated with Shaklee: a purity standard higher than organic. Organic describes how an ingredient is grown. Shaklee’s testing describes what is actually in the finished product in your hand.
EWG Verified and clean by design
For its beauty and personal care lines, Shaklee partnered with the Environmental Working Group (EWG), one of the most respected independent authorities on ingredient safety. Select Shaklee, YOUTH, and Pomifera products carry the EWG VERIFIED mark, which means they are free from EWG’s chemicals of concern and meet the organization’s strictest standards for transparency in formulation, manufacturing, and testing.
The clean philosophy runs through the product design itself. Shaklee’s skincare is formulated without thousands of questionable ingredients and is vegan and cruelty-free, with formulas reviewed for safety. EWG verification is not self-applied; it is earned by submitting full ingredient and manufacturing data to an outside body for evaluation. That external scrutiny is exactly what separates a genuine clean-beauty claim from a marketing slogan.
A pioneer in environmental responsibility
Shaklee’s environmental record is not a recent rebrand. It is one of the longest in corporate America, and several of its milestones are genuine world firsts.
In 2000, Shaklee became the first company in the world to obtain Climate Neutral certification, fully offsetting its carbon dioxide emissions for a net zero impact on the environment, a status it has maintained for more than two decades. In 2002, it received the Climate Protection Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency. Its commitment to greener products is older still: in 1960, Shaklee introduced Basic-H, one of the first non-toxic, biodegradable household cleaners, and in 1972 it launched Basic-L, one of the first biodegradable laundry detergents made without phosphates, nitrates, or borates. Shaklee also became a major partner of the Green Belt Movement founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai, and built one of the first green, energy-saving corporate headquarters using certified sustainable wood and recycled materials.
These are the credentials of a company that treated sustainability as a core value decades before it became fashionable, and that history is independently documented through the EPA, the former Climate Neutral Network, and contemporaneous press.
Formulated by scientists, validated by results
Behind every Shaklee product is a team of scientists, nutritionists, and researchers who translate published science into formulations. The company’s approach is built around clinical validation rather than trend-chasing: the Vitalizer regimen, for example, was formulated on the basis of 12 published Shaklee clinical studies, including the Landmark Study, and uses a patented delivery system designed to improve absorption of key nutrients. Shaklee nutrition and personal-care products have also been associated with elite athletic performance, with Shaklee-supported athletes having won well over 100 Olympic medals, and the company does not pay for athlete endorsements.
The point is consistency. The same evidence-first standard that produced a peer-reviewed UC Berkeley study and a NASA rehydration formula is the standard applied to the multivitamin, the protein shake, the collagen, and the household cleaner under your sink.
Absorption is the science most brands skip
A supplement is only as good as what your body can actually absorb. A tablet that passes through undigested delivers nothing, no matter how impressive its label. This is where a great deal of Shaklee’s formulation science is focused, and it is the part of the industry consumers rarely hear about.
Shaklee developed a patented delivery system, Shaklee Micronutrient Advanced Release Technology, designed to release nutrients in the right place, in the right sequence, for better absorption. The principle is simple but consequential: nutrients have different needs. Some are best absorbed in the stomach, others further along the digestive tract, and some compete with one another if released at the same moment. Engineering the timing and location of nutrient release is a meaningfully harder problem than simply pressing ingredients into a pill, and it is the kind of formulation work that separates a research-driven company from a label-driven one.
The same thinking extends across the catalogue. The collagen in Liquid BioCell uses a low-molecular-weight matrix designed for absorption rather than a raw collagen powder. The protein in Life Shake is formulated with branched-chain amino acids that Shaklee reports are clinically shown to be highly bioavailable. In each case the question driving the formulation is the same: not just what is in the product, but how much of it your body can use.
Beyond organic: what the standard actually means
“Beyond organic” is a phrase that gets used loosely, so it is worth being precise about what it means in Shaklee’s case. Organic certification governs how a crop is grown: which pesticides and fertilizers are permitted, how soil is managed, and so on. It is a valuable standard, but it describes farming practice, not the safety or potency of a finished supplement. An organically grown botanical can still arrive carrying naturally occurring heavy metals, microbial contamination, or simply too little of the active compound to matter.
Shaklee’s approach addresses the gap. Raw materials are selected and then the finished, packaged product is tested for hundreds of contaminants, with standards that surpass the US Pharmacopeia. That combination, careful sourcing plus rigorous finished-product testing, is what people mean when they describe Shaklee’s purity standard as going beyond organic. It is not a marketing flourish; it is a different and more complete way of thinking about what “clean” should mean for something you swallow every day. The 100% money-back guarantee, honored even on a completely empty bottle, reflects the same confidence: a company that tests this thoroughly can afford to stand behind the result without conditions.
Why this matters for you
In a market full of bold claims and thin evidence, Shaklee offers something unusual: a paper trail. A founder who helped invent the category in 1915. A peer-reviewed study with a named university and measurable biomarker improvements. A research partnership documented in NASA’s own archives. Testing that exceeds federal and pharmacopeia standards. Independent EWG verification. And a world-first environmental record stretching back to 1960. Every claim on this page can be traced to a source, and the most important ones are listed below.
Whether you are choosing a daily multivitamin, a clean skincare routine, or a safer way to clean your home, the question worth asking is simple: where is the evidence? For Shaklee, the answer is on the record.
Explore the full Shaklee range here.
Sources Cited:
1. Block G, Jensen CD, Norkus EP, Dalvi TB, Wong LG, McManus JF, Hudes ML. “Usage patterns, health, and nutritional status of long-term multiple dietary supplement users: a cross-sectional study.” Nutrition Journal. 2007 Oct 24;6:30. PMID: 17958896.
2. Greenleaf JE, et al. “Vascular uptake of rehydration fluids in hypohydrated men at rest and exercise.” NASA Technical Reports Server, Document ID 19930016944 (Shaklee US, Inc.).
3. Fortney SM, et al. “Fluid-loading solutions and plasma volume: Astro-ade and salt tablets with water.” NASA Technical Reports Server, Document ID 19940019071.
4. NASA / PR Newswire. “Shaklee and NASA collaboration; Shaklee products on NASA missions since 1993; Astro-Ade.” 2016.
5. Climate Neutral Network / CSRWire. “Shaklee U.S. Becomes Nation’s First Climate Neutral Certified Company.” 2000.
6. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Climate Protection Award (2002); EPA Climate Leaders program.
7. Environmental Working Group (EWG). EWG VERIFIED program standards and Shaklee verified product listings, us.shaklee.com/en_US/new/.
8. Shaklee Corporation. Quality standards, clinical study count, patents, and environmental milestones (Basic-H 1960; Basic-L 1972; Vitalized Minerals 1915; first plant protein 1961), us.shaklee.com/en_US/new/.