Reliv

Reliv International, Inc. or Reliv, is a food science company that uses multilevel marketing to distribute dietary supplements. Based in Chesterfield, Missouri, Reliv sells its products through a network of independent distributors in 16 countries.

History
Reliv was founded in 1988 by Robert and Sandy Montgomery. The Montgomerys licensed a nutritional formula developed by Dr. Theodore Kalogris in the early 1980s. The formula, called Reliv Classic, became Reliv’s first product and was granted US Patent number 4,737,364 in 1988.

In the next two decades, the company expanded its sales operations to various countries around the world. In 1993, Reliv became a publicly traded company on the American Stock Exchange and three years later, the company moved to the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol RELV. The Great Flood of 1993 flooded the company’s headquarters and put a temporary halt to production. The company broke ground on a $4 million headquarters expansion in 1997. It was completed in 1998.

Reliv Founder and CEO Robert Montgomery was recognized by Ernst and Young as the Missouri Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003. Reliv was ranked number 3 of the "Top 100 International Companies" in International Business Magazine. In 2003, BusinessWeek magazine included Reliv International on its list of the "Top 100 Small Growth Companies" (Reliv was also included on the list in 2005, 2006 and 2007). In 2005, the company had a jumping increase of 41 percent in its fourth-quarter net income, and Reliv International ranked number 43 on Forbes Magazine’s "200 Best Small Companies" 2005 list and ranked number 14 in 2006. (Reliv's share price is often below Forbes' $5 threshold, which keeps the company from being considered for the list.)

ExecRank executive ranking service has named Reliv’s Dr. Carl Hastings number nine on their Top Chief Scientific Officers Ranking list for 2012.

In July 2013 Reliv entered into an exclusive license for the intellectual property of Soy Labs LLC related to the nutritional ingredient lunasin. Lunasin is a naturally occurring peptide research has identified as the key to many of soy’s documented health benefits.

Kalogris Foundation
The Reliv Kalogris Foundation is named for the late Dr. Theodore "Ted" Kalogris, who created the nutritional formula that would become Reliv International's first product. The foundation, founded in 1995, today provides free nutritional supplements daily to more than 42,000 malnourished people in nine countries.

Products
Reliv has four product lines: Essential Nutrition (nutritional shakes), Weight Loss (Slimplicity meal replacement shakes and metabolism-boosting supplements), Targeted Solutions (nutritional shakes targeting specific benefits such as digestive, joint, and heart health, and an energy shot called 24K), and Relivables (skin care, all-natural sweetener). The company examined the effect of one of their products, GlucAffect, on blood glucose and body weight in a non-randomized, nonblinded, non-controlled clinical study. The company has been issued patents on 9 of its products: Arthaffect (#6,224,8718), Cellebrate (#5,626,849), FibRestore (#5,567,424), Innergize! (#5,294,606; expired in 2012), ReversAge (#6,368,617) ProVantage (#8,168,241), GlucAffect (#8,114,445), 24K (#8,496,979) and Reliv Classic (#4,737,364; expired 2005).

Awards
In 2011, Reliv's 24K was awarded a People's Choice Stevie Award for Favorite New Products. 24K is a patented energy shot with 24 active ingredients containing no caffeine and no sugar. It is formulated to provide energy, focus and stress relief.

In 2013, Reliv's LunaRichX was awarded a People's Choice Stevie Award for Favorite New Products. The Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. LunaRichX is concentrated lunasin, and is a factor in epigenetics cell health. Lunasin is a peptide found naturally in soy that is responsible for many of soy’s documented health benefits, including heart health, cholesterol management, inflammation reduction, improved immunity and overall cellular health.

Litigation
In January 2013, Environment Research Center (ERC) filed suit against Reliv, accusing them of "failure to warn consumers that they have been exposed to lead from several of the company's nutritional health products." ~ The resulting consent judgment assessed civil penalties "pursuant to Health & Safety Code Section 25249.7(b)(1). Reliv subsequently revised the formula for all of the covered products to meet the new standards of California Proposition 65." (Source: Proposed Stipulated Consent Judgment, Case: CIV1300429 Superior Court of the State of California) Reliv has posted a response to Prop 65.