Mark LeDoux, CEO of Natural Alternatives International, Inc. and Natural Products Association Board Chair
Mark LeDoux
“It’s gratifying to see what started out four decades ago in my parents’ garage, indeed had merit. Much of the population seems to have gravitated toward the same idea: let’s use natural ways to help prevent diseases from taking hold, make important lifestyle choices and use medicine as more of a reserve approach,” said Natural Products Association Board Chair, Mark LeDoux, CEO of Natural Alternatives International, Inc. (NAI) of the mindset that focuses his work.
LeDoux founded NAI forty years ago with only his parents as investors and it continued to be family owned for many years with LeDoux’s mother serving as Chairperson of the Board of Directors. The industry has grown overall as well. Three in four Americans now take dietary supplements daily. LeDoux considers himself fortunate to have been at the forefront of dietary supplement industry growth alongside brilliant colleagues with the goal of offering natural alternatives designed to allow the human body to heal itself more efficiently.
Today NAI is a leading manufacturer of dietary supplements serving over 45 countries and publicly traded with headquarters 
in California and Switzerland. The company conceives, engineers and creates alternative dietary supplements to meet their clients’ needs. NAI also exclusively offers two clinically studied, patented ingredients – CarnoSyn® instant release beta-alanine and SR CarnoSyn® sustained release beta-alanine. In 2019, CarnoSyn® beta-alanine successfully obtained New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) status from the FDA.
“This is really a seminal time for NAI given the height of international trade, attention to supply chain management and greater focus on product labeling and evaluation. NAI can support those needs in a disciplined, innovative, scientifically validated and authentic way,” said LeDoux.
NPA Membership
Mark LeDoux welcomes senior FDA official Lowell Schiller to the stage at 2019’s The Big Natural conference
Of his role as Chairman of the Natural Products Association Board of Directors, LeDoux acknowledges no executive has the bandwidth to do everything and each company needs to determine how they want to spend their resources in order to achieve their intended outcomes. For his organization, NPA membership is an affordable tool in facilitating laws and rules that protect consumers, reduce health costs and support the economy.
“I personally focus on the domestic side of NPA’s activities, which I believe it does very efficiently,” says LeDoux. “Additionally, I’ll be focusing on NPA’s international functions given the Codex Alimentarius Commission has granted NPA official observer status at the upcoming meetings.”
“NPA membership means reaching out, being responsive and building strong relationships with leaders on Capitol Hill and nationwide,” he added. “I’ve found it’s incredibly important to be engaged, up to date and available in real-time to support the legislative process when subject matter expertise is needed.”
Natural Products Association honors U.S. Senator Tim Scott with the 2019 Senate Natural Champion award
LeDoux offered the following example, “I’m proud to see that NPA’s work with Senators and Congressmen has led to those lawmakers calling on the IRS to give Americans the authority to buy certain dietary supplements – the supplements with qualified health claims – with their own hard-earned HSA dollars. That logic has been around for a while but the latest efforts may actually bear fruit for consumers.”
For more information about Natural Products Association’s advocacy work in Congress and nationwide, go to http://npanational.org.
For more information about NAI, go to: www.nai-online.com, Facebook and LinkedIn.
