thru Buzz Power: Charantia regains and retains top spot

by Ronald Jabal

A sweet comeback from the bitter veggie.

No popular actor/actress endorsing it. No splashy and high-budgeted ads to resurrect it. Just pure buzz from satisfied customers.

This is the story of Charantia – the food supplement made from 100% dried whole Ampalaya – minus the bitter taste. It comes in three variants: the loose tea, tea bags and 500 mg capsules.

Launched in 2001, Charantia – manufactured and marketed by Herbcare Corporation - immediately captured the interest of diabetics specifically and health buffs in general.

The diabetics and their families saw Charantia as a very good food supplement that will help the stabilize sugar levels. It does not have the bitter taste of the actual Ampalaya and it is highly convenient. Health buffs on the other hand saw Charantia as part of their preventive health care regimen.

As a result, Charantia sales skyrocketed. Aided further by carefully targeted tri-media campaign Charantia became a household food supplement brand.

“We were an instant success. Introducing the product to the marketing was a walk in the park. What made it possible was that the DoH had already been campaigning for Ampalaya and we just produced a product from Ampalaya and the market gobbled it. We were simply riding on the DoH campaign and Charantia made it,” said Lito Abelarde, President of Herbcare, the makers of Charantia.

But the success was not without any challenge. “We were, however, a victim of our success,” Abelarde quickly pointed out.

On top of the numerous similar products that cropped up imitating and competing with Charantia, the Department of Health (DoH) issued a circular that “strongly advised all concerned to cease, desist and discontinue any endorsement of ampalaya an alternative treatment for diabetes mellitus”.

This circular confused the public given earlier DoH campaigns promoting the consumption of Ampalaya. The public was further confused with some reports showing diabetic patients unwittingly discontinued taking their prescription drugs and replaced them with ampalaya capsules.

The DoH circular had a huge effect on the consumption of Charantia. Sales went down and the confusion was high. Abelarde, however, said, it was the loyal client of Charantia that kept them afloat.

“Satisfied Charantia users called up radio and TV stations and allowed themselves to be interviewed by the press to show that Charantia made wonders in their illness. Families of diabetics also made numerous public testimonies to promote Charantia. And this kept our
products alive,” Abelarde disclosed.

Abelarde also disclosed that to help clarify issues Herbcare put out advertisements that Charantia is only a food supplement and that diabetics should not be discontinuing their medication. The firm even went beyond by placing “warnings” in their packaging that effectively recommends that those taking Ampalaya supplements should not be stopping/dropping their medication.

Abelarde, however, admits, the power of “buzz” and the volley of statements from satisfied customers coupled with low-key advertisements using real diabetics and doctor statements and a number of educational tours and symposia made possible the continued patronage of the brands during the “confusion stage”.

But the “nightmare” disappeared with the issuance of a new DoH circular that breathed life anew to Ampalaya. The Department of Health (DOH) is now advocating the use of Ampalaya for type-2 diabetes.

Also leading the promotion of Ampalaya, along with other herbal medicinal plants, is the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC), an inter-agency attached to the Department of Health. PITAHC was created after the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act was signed into law in 1997.

Among others PITAHC is tasked to spearhead efforts to develop safe, effective and commercially viable herbal products.

The Association of Municipal Health Officers of the Philippines (AMHOP), the organization of over 1,500 doctors running the public health centers, even recommends Charantia to their diabetic patients. This makes Charantia as perhaps the only herbal product recommended by a national medical organization.

“We have even measured through blood sugar tests how our patients improve their sugar after a month of adding this tea to their regimen,” AMHOP past president, Dr. Guia Abad, was quoted to have said.

Their experience with Charantia was so successful that these doctors made it the official food supplement of Operation Diabetes, their DOH-endorsed nationwide diabetes awareness and prevention program. Operation Diabetes backs the creation of diabetic support groups across the country to help curb the rising local incidence of the disease.

While AMHOP’s Operation Diabetes is geared towards the rural areas, a new campaign, being spearheaded by Herbcare, is now focusing on urban centers.

Called the 30-day challenge, the new campaign is an information, education and communication campaign among employees in urban centers, beginning with a number of government offices. It aims to measure the sugar level of participants before and after Charantia is made part of their regular dietary regiment.

“We want to teach participants to be responsible for their health. We work with clinics which invite employees who have diabetes or those suspected from suffering from this disease. We teach them about the value of exercise proper diet and request them to include Charantia in their diet plan. Every week we measure their sugar level and at the end of 30 days they expressed satisfaction as all of them experience lowering of blood sugar. These satisfied customers become our ambassadors. They tell other people about the wonders of Charantia and they too become hooked,” Abelarde said.

Herbcare had to think of very innovative ways to compete in the current food supplement industry. Abelader admits the business environment is now different compared in 2001 when the company launched Charantia.

“We are back with a vengeance. But we are now operating in an industry that has grown so much. Competing with the attention of people is getting to be difficult unlike in 2001 and 2002. We now have to compete to stand out from the clutter as the food supplement industry is one of the fastest growing industry. Our industry also advertises heavily as well. While my competitors invests in big-budget advertisements, we remain prudent. We have to be more creative in pushing our brand through ads,” Abelarde stressed.

And Herbcare may have found the right strokes.Charantia is now sold in the U.S.A., Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, Korea and parts of the Middle East. Locally, Charantia is being sold in Mercury Drug and in leading drugstores and supermarkets.

The company is also set to introduce new products. Its second product is Policosanol Prime. Made from a natural substance derived from sugarcane wax, Policosanol Prime can help lower high cholesterol levels without harming the liver even with prolonged use.

Persons with family history of high cholesterol and heart disease, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and those consuming unhealthy can take Policosanol Prime. Drs William Torres, former director of the Bureau of Food and Drugs and Yolanda Robles, former Dean of the College of Pharmacy UP Manila have both endorsed Policosanol as a potential supplement that could help many individuals manager their high cholesterol levels.

Abelarde said Herbcare will not stop producing food supplement that are clinically proven to help people suffering from diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and the like. “We are not in this business just to earn. We are in the business of helping and educating people. And we are very happy that we can help raise consciousness of Filipinos about the value of health care. More than anything else, Herbcare is my advocacy,” he stressed.
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