The Real Thing

Mannatech was founded in November 1993 by current CEO and Chairman Sam Caster. During its first two years, the company focused on products that contained aloe vera extract. Mannatech announced its flagship product, Ambrotose, 1996 based on the discovery that the body’s immune system needs eight plant-based sugars – also known as glyconutrients – to function properly.

Medical research has shown that cells use these glyconutrients to communicate with each other so the immune system, when confronted, can mount a coordinated response to foreign invasion. These sugars are plucose, fucose, mannose, galactose, xylose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylneuraminic acid.

According to Mannatech, six of these eight glyconutrients are deficient in the modern diet, largely because foods today are heavily processed and balanced meals have succumbed to fast food. Mannatech scoured the world to find new, rich sources of the missing nutrients. Its effort culminated in the Ambrotose formulation, which in August 2005 received a “composition of matter” patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent five Mannatech proprietary use of the formulation.

Lemme, who holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from Lawrence University, joined Mannatech as in independent associate after looking for alternative ways to improve the quality of life for his three-and-a-half-year-old son. Lemme said his son’s quality of life improved dramatically after consuming Mannatech’s glyconutritional supplements.

“While I was open to nutritional alternatives, I was very (demanding) in the level of scientific validation,” he said, remembering what initially attracted him to the company and its products. “Mannatech was one of the first, if not only companies that employed a high level of scientific substantiation of its products.”

After studying the company, Lemme determined that it held benefits for the well-being of his family. He spent eight years as an independent associate and was then asked to join the company in 2003. The same year, he was promoted as its senior vice president of sales and marketing.

“I believe Mannatech has been entrusted with and has unlocked a group of technologies that is truly a better solution to global health,” he says. “It’s time our culture begins to focus more on promoting health and wellness than in treating illness.

“Our perspective is that everyone thinks that new technologies and the answers to a specific industry always come from the industries,” Lemme continues, adding that true innovation “that dramatically shifts the marketplace come from outside the marketplace.”

Lemme says that the company’s products will change the world of healthcare. “I believe that Mannatech is going to be a phenomenon,” he says. “It will make one of the most significant contributions to the health and well-being of mankind.”