Recognizing the inconvenience of consuming the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables, a group of Jacksonville physicians launched a drink to make it easier.
Jacksonville-based Nu-Well Physicians has launched OLUS+, a collection of six formulas of cold-pressed fruits and vegetables targeted at consumers age 40 and above.
Production has begun and the products are sold at the NuWellPhy.com site. Nu-Well also is marketing to companies for their workplace wellness programs.
James Johnson, president and CEO, said nine employees are on staff and that will increase to 75 in three years and to 100 in five years, based on growth projections.
He is a partner in Axioun Strategic Planning. Axioun partner Pat Mulvihill is executive vice president of risk management at Nu-Well and partner Patricia Johnson is CFO.
Easy access to consuming daily servings of produce makes it easier to stay on a healthy diet and nutrition track, Johnson said.
“We’re a nation of convenience,” he said Monday morning.
The group leased and renovated the former 14,000-square-foot Piccadilly Cafeteria in the Regency area at 200 Monument Road. There, it shreds produce into pulp in a slow rotating shredder and uses more than 14 tons of hydraulic pressure to press the pulp into juice.
It then is marketed in 12-ounce bottles, a size the team determined was an adequate daily volume for adults. A bottle a day for six days is the recommended consumption.
Each contains an average of six of the recommended daily servings of vegetables and fruits. The typical recommendation is five to nine servings daily.
The formulas are designed to provide a balanced weekly nutrition program, according to nuwellphy.com. They are not meal replacements or a liquid-diet cleanse. Mulvihill emphasizes Nu-Well is a food processor, not a medical entity.
The cost is $7.85 a bottle and can be ordered online and delivered by truck. Nu-Well is working on arranging pickup locations, too.
They are marketed as 100 percent vegetables and fruits with no filters or other ingredients.
Nu-Well says they are made fresh daily with organic, non-GMO fruits and vegetables. GMO is brief for genetically modified organisms.
Formula1 is a mix of kale, cucumber, ginger, green apple, lemon and turmeric.
Formula2 combines carrot, lemon, grape, celery, parsley and turmeric.
Formula3 comprises green apple, cucumber, turmeric, Swiss chard and romaine.
Formula4 consists of Bok choy, green apple, parsley, ginger, spinach, cucumber, turmeric and lemon.
Formula5 is spinach, cucumber, turmeric, beetroot and pineapple.
Formula6 offer fennel, cucumber, orange, romaine, green apple and ginger.
Nu-Well Physicians is a trademark of North American Physician Consultants LLC.
The management team comprises partners of Axioun Strategic Planning Inc. Johnson said that team owns about 20 percent of the company, while the physicians hold 80 percent of it.
The advisory board consists of 12 physicians and is chaired by Dr. Saumil Oza, chief of cardiology at St. Vincent’s Medical Center Riverside. Dr. Bash Iyengar, a family medicine physician with St. Vincent’s, is the Nu-Well medical director.
The other physicians on the advisory board specialize in family medicine; radiation oncology; neurology; epileptology; internal medicine; gastroenterology; hepatology; rheumatology; ophthalmology; dentistry; radiology; and cardiac electrophysiology. Most are board-certified.
Nine are from Jacksonville, including several with Baptist Health. The other three are from out of state.
Oza, who specializes in heart rhythm disorders, said in a news release he believes more than than 95 percent of the patients he sees have diseases that may have been prevented with diet and lifestyle modifications.
“There is more and more evidence in our medical literature that changing our diet and lifestyle, even after you have invasive procedures performed, such as bypass surgery or cardiac stents, can dramatically improve your chances of living a healthier and longer life,” he said.