How Scientific Validation and Amazon Strategy Drive Supplement Brand Growth
- Stanley Igboanugo
- 9 hours ago
- 19 min read
In this episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, Jon LaClare sits down with Hank Cheatham to explore what it really takes to build and scale a supplement brand in one of the most competitive—and skeptical—categories on the market.
With a background rooted in a Japanese pharmaceutical company, Hank shares how Daiwa Health Development brought a unique brain health supplement to the U.S., powered by a specialized ingredient designed to support memory and cognitive function. But beyond the product itself, this conversation dives into the bigger picture: why scientific validation, quality standards, and strategic channel expansion are essential for long-term success.
You’ll learn how an aging global population is driving demand for cognitive health solutions, why most supplements lack meaningful testing, and how clinical studies can become a powerful differentiator in a crowded marketplace. Hank also breaks down the realities of launching a product in the U.S.—including the importance of direct-to-consumer channels, Amazon growth strategy, and the challenges of maintaining control over your brand.
From leveraging existing distribution relationships to navigating unauthorized sellers on Amazon, this episode is packed with practical insights for founders, marketers, and anyone looking to build a trusted product brand.
In today’s episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we’ll cover:
Why scientific validation is critical in the supplement industry
How clinical studies can dramatically increase credibility and trust
The growing demand for brain health products driven by aging populations
What most supplement brands get wrong about proof and differentiation
How to successfully launch a product from overseas into the U.S. market
The three core distribution channels: direct-to-consumer, retail, and professional
Why Amazon is essential—but shouldn’t be your only strategy
How to protect your brand from unauthorized sellers on Amazon
The role of quality, testing, and cultural standards in product development
Why products that truly work ultimately drive repeat customers and growth
You can listen to the full interview on your desktop or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Or, click to watch the full video interview here!
EXCLUSIVE OFFER FOR LISTENERS
Hank and his team are offering Harvest Growth Podcast listeners an EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT on their official website:
Visit www.dhdmed.com.
Use promo code DBH2026 at checkout to receive 20% off your order.
This offer is available directly through their website, where you can explore their full product line and learn more about their science-backed approach to brain health.
If you’re building a supplement brand—or any product in a competitive category—this episode offers a clear roadmap for standing out through real results, strong positioning, and smart channel strategy.
To learn more about Daiwa Health Development and their products, visit their website or search for their offerings online.
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a review — and we’ll see you next time on the Harvest Growth Podcast.
Prefer reading instead of listening? Read the full transcript here!
[00:01:40]
Host
and how it works?
[00:01:41]
Hank Cheatham
Well first lemme give you a, a little background about the company. Dawa Health Development is a company that's, uh, headquartered in Los Angeles and, uh, we are a subsidiary of a Japanese company called Dawa Pharmaceutical. We manufacture a small line of dietary supplements. I think there's a total of, uh, nine products in our most recent product.
And now our most successful is the one you alluded to is the Diar Brain Health. And, uh, we have a, uh, unique material that we get from our parent company in Japan called Hato Scallop Oil Plasminogen. And that's the active ingredient that's in the diar brain health that makes it unique and has a special function in terms of improving memory and cognitive function.
[00:02:33]
Host
So, uh, let's talk about brain health in, in general, kind of back up a little bit. And before we get into too much into the ingredients, I wanna come back to that in a second. What do you mean when you say brain health? Like what are, what are the ideal benefits of, of the product we're trying to help with?
[00:02:47]
Hank Cheatham
Well, why don't I give you a little background first. Um, I mean, in terms of why this, this particular ingredient, uh, seem to make sense and seem to be something that we should pursue, uh, launching, as you probably know, in the United States, we have an aging population. And uh, right now there are approximately 62 million seniors or baby boomers.
About 18% of the population is over the age of 65. That's projected to go to 84 million or 23% of the population by the year 2054. So as the population gets older, there's clearly a need for. Something that's gonna address, um, memory and cognitive function. As we all know, as you get older, all of us have problems with memory and things like that.
Uh, to give you just another idea for centenarians, people that are a hundred years old right now, three out of every 10,000 people in the United States are a hundred years old or older. That number's projected to, to, uh, by, uh, 2054 to go from three to 14, 14 people. For every 10,000 people in the United States, it's gonna be a hundred or higher.
And now we're just living, living longer. And this is a, this is a worldwide phenomenon. And just quickly, Japan's gonna go from 12 or. Uh, 100 year olds every 10,000 to 40, uh, by 2054. And China, which is less than one per 10,000 now is gonna go to six. So you'll see the trend throughout the world. So basically that's set the background that hey, there's a place for a product that has some efficacy in this category.
And that's really how we, uh, arrived at it. And then when our parent company discovered, um. The Plasm Mogen ingredient. It, it seemed to be a natural, uh, to bring it into the United States and, uh, make it available. Uh, we're talking about Plasmin. Just quickly, plasm, just as a background, plasm Mogen itself is a phospholipid and it's present in probably every tissue in the body, but it's an abundance in the brain and in the heart.
And with the abundance of Plasm Mogen in the brain, that has a direct effect on our ability to remember and our ability to have decent cognitive function. And as you would suspect, as we get older, the level of plasm mogen declines lines, uh, by a significant margin. So with the loss of plasmo, and we know there's a loss of memory and cognitive function.
We also know people with dementia, Alzheimer's degree, uh, disease and things like that have lower levels of plasminogen. So if you're able to enhance the plasm level, you'll be able to increase memory and cognitive function.
[00:06:13]
Host
I personally, I have a, a story behind why I got excited when we first chatted months ago, and I learned about this product is I've got a history like many of us do.
My father had dementia the later years of his life, and he was very physically healthy, took care of his diet for my entire lifetime and most of his, um, and, and still to basically to those. Last day, uh, of his life, he was physically relatively healthy. Uh, but his mind went right. It's, you know, part of dementia. It's, it was, it was a sad thing to see for sure. And I, you know, I've been extra conscious trying to avoid that or, or prolong the time before that might happen in my own life. So that's a personal reason why I was interested in talking about this.
What I like about too is it's, you know, it's not just the centenarians where, you know, this is something that you gotta plan for early, earlier in your life, right? Not waiting until it happens, but really getting these nutrients into your body to, to improve your brain health and make sure it's strong and functioning for a very long time.
But I, in my own personal usage of the product, uh, I'm not to the, nearly to that age yet. But I do with my job, have an important need to really focus and be of high energy and I've noticed just in a really fit quickly after a couple weeks of starting the product, but after a couple months even better, I've seen a big difference in my own ability to focus, to perform longer in terms of, you know, just mentally being, having acuity over the course of the day and getting a lot more done.
Is that something you commonly see? I don't know if I'm an outlier, or is that pretty normal for people as they take it to see pretty quick results like that?
[00:07:43]
Hank Cheatham
That's, that's generally been the result. Yes. Um, been an increase in all the areas you just described. And, uh, and I guess a little more clarity. Uh, that's something that I've discovered also, uh, with, uh, with the product.
Um, it's, uh, it's very unique and it's very unique in terms of, uh. Of how it works, uh, different from any of the other competitive products. And, um, we have some doctors who recommended it and use it with, uh, their patients. And interestingly, there is, uh, one doctor, uh, in New York. Uh, he's an MD but he, he also integrates natural therapies into his practice and I spoke to him about the product and he agreed to put together a case study with his patients.
And he, he has, um, the only criteria was that they basically were over 65. Some of them were early dementia, and, um. He divided them into two groups. One group got the, uh, Diwa Brain health that we're talking about. The other group, uh, got prevagen and, uh, we've all seen prevagen. They, they advertised very heavily on television, probably the number one product in this category.
And, uh, he did a head-to-head comparison, uh, with these patients, starting with a baseline. Uh, giving them standardized memory tests and then scoring them again at the end of 90 days. And there was a significant improvement with all of his patients who took the, uh, diwa brain health with the HSOP ingredient.
And there was absolutely no change at all with the Prevagen. And, um, in addition, what surprised him was that with the patients who took, um. The Dawa Brain Health, this is a, a double blind study also, so people didn't realize what, you know, who was getting what. But of the, of the patients who took the, uh, Dawa Brain Health, pretty much all of them said that they felt something similar to what you described, that you felt, you know, more clarity, you could actually indicate that there's, um, more focus and your cognitive function seemed to improve.
All of his patients who took the dwa Brain Health reported feeling something, some feeling like that, some clarity where among the prevagen, uh, patients, they reported feeling no different, uh, which was something that, uh, was surprising. And as a result with that study, it's been published, uh, it's, um, been published in an, uh, a journal called Alternative Therapies. Which is kind of interesting. So I thought that was, uh, it's kind of interesting background.
[00:10:57]
Host
Yeah, and it's something our, some of our audience may not know If you're not in the supplement business, most supplements, whether you see 'em on TV or in a retail store shelf, you know, non-pharmaceutical, they're not required to do any testing.
You have to be careful on claims, especially on TV to not over, you know, make medical claims, things like that. But they can dance around them and, and allude to claims. You'll see that a lot.
But I would caution people to pay attention. Be specific with these, look for some testing where possible. I would say I, I don't know what the exact percentage is, but the majority of supplements on the market have not done any testing like you have, especially the double-blind testing, et cetera, in part 'cause they really don't wanna know the results.
Right? They can make claims like, we think this is working, it's ba, you know, sometimes it's based on ingredient testing that has been done. But does it work in your product with your particular mix? We don't know. So unlike other supplements in general, but especially some of the biggest. Brain health supplements or competitors that are out there, you have done the testing and that is so valuable, I'd say, and I imagine that partially comes from the fact that your parent company is a pharmaceutical company and of course testing is required for any, any approved medications or, or prescription medications as it were.
So not required for what you've done, but it's such a value that you have done that. So I think that's one huge advantage of your connection to your parent company. I'd love to, let's pivot a little and talk about the business side of this. Um, how has that helped or any learnings across, uh, uh, along the way being part of a company that is from overseas, right?
It's a Japanese company. You've helped bring it here and really grow it in the us. What, what, how has that helped, or what learnings have you had from being connected to, you know, a different company overseas?
[00:12:42]
Hank Cheatham
Well, I think, uh, uh, one of the big. Benefits of being connected to a, a company, especially a Japanese company, is their total a hundred percent commitment to quality.
Uh, the quality standards in Japan are extremely high, and their quality control efforts are also extremely high and very demanding. Uh, unlike some other products that you can get from other parts of Asia, but, um. Japanese products, and especially the ones that come from Diar Pharmaceutical are high quality tested ingredients, as you mentioned, Jon.
And, uh, that's just part of the culture. And I, I think that was, uh, that's I think a strong benefit and even part of the company mission of the Daiwa Pharmaceutical, uh, incorporates bringing in. Are developing, uh, natural products that are pure and are are tested and also safe. Uh, this product has also been through, uh, batteries of, uh, toxicity studies and things like that.
Uh, the only proviso I would say it is derived from scallops. So if a person does have a seafood allergy or something of that nature, then. In that case, be a little careful. So if you are to try a product, uh, the worst of what happens is you get some kind of allergic reaction.
But if you do have a seafood allergy and you still want to try it, I'd suggest you just try one capsule once, wait a day or two, and see if you get any reaction. And if you don't, then uh, slowly start taking, taking more. But that's, that's really the only negative that we've discovered.
[00:14:36]
Host
And I assume if it's, uh, most seafood allergies are not severe life threatening. If they are of course, then probably not.
[00:14:42]
Hank Cheatham
No. Don't try the product. But moisture minor. Yeah. It's, uh, the usual allergic reaction. You might get some itching and things like that.
[00:14:50]
Host
Yeah. Yeah, so be cognitive of your own allergies, of course, in that front. So many of our listeners, um, you know, may be considering or have heard of other businesses that have brought overseas products here. Now, the way you've done it is you are a subsidiary.
That's often for them, may not be what they're looking at to be part of a company, but if they wanna bring a product from overseas, uh, might be a deal or buying inventory from there and selling it here in the US market. It's a very common way, especially in supplements, but across many products. To, to make money right, to do well in the US market for something that is proven overseas, just bringing it here in, in, into the US market.
Any advice from your learnings? You know, you've been through this so, you know, learnings that might apply whether you're a subsidiary or whether it's, you know, a, a bringing in, uh, and distributing here in the, in the us. But either way, you know, connecting to overseas companies or products, any advice, things you've learned along the way that would be helpful, maybe you wish you would have known early on in, in your journey.
[00:15:46]
Hank Cheatham
Well, it's, it's not so easy to launch a product in the United States, as you know. And um, although it is easier in the US than it is in a lot of other countries that would require extensive registration with the health authorities. But in the United States, there's three basic distribution channels. It's direct to consumer retail and the professional channel through doctors.
So my suggestion would be if you're bringing in a product from overseas and interested in launching in the United States, uh, establish a direct to consumer channel as one of your early ones. That's easy to get, get into, could, you can sell directly from your website and people can go on your website and order the product, or they can call you on the telephone and order that way.
And another, another one is of course, put your product on Amazon. And we've had, uh, great growth with our product on Amazon. The problem that, on Amazon that I would, uh, advise you be aware of, if you start to show some growth, a lot of other people will be buying your product and they'll be selling it on Amazon also.
But you wanna make sure that you are the only authorized distributor of your products on Amazon. And that's gonna require some degree of policing. So when other distributors try to sell your product on Amazon, you have to get after them, uh, with a letter. Good to have a lawyer, one that's reasonable and understands, and usually a lawyer letter, letter will, will, will get them off. Uh. Uh, or your, your threat legal action. But that's something to be aware of.
So if you're selling on Amazon or then sell to walmart.com, um, other, other channels like that, direct to the consumer. And while you're doing that, then work on getting into retail distribution, which of course, takes longer and starts selling to doctors.
Selling to doctors is also not easy. Because it's hard to reach doctors, as you know, especially if you have a non-prescription product. So one of the first ways to do it is to try to get your product into a medical distributor, like full script, uh, formally known as Emerson because they sell to. Pretty much every natural doctor in, in the country.
So at least you're in a distributor where the product can be made available. And then the other thing is you've gotta put together some type of a marketing or media plan to put behind the product so people know who you are, they've heard of you, and they want to buy it. So it's going to require some investment in advertising and promotion.
[00:18:42]
Host
And for those that are listing, you know, not every product obviously would be sold into doctor's offices, but there are, you know, if it's not a supplement or, or things like that. But that's great advice still to think about, that there are channels that may not be the normal retail channel, but, you know, selling through an expert or affiliates or, you know, getting other people or other businesses to sell your product.
It's, it's, it can be difficult. Um, as you said, to get over some hurdles and, and get them excited and get them selling it. But once they do, now they're doing your marketing for you, right? At least with their own audience. Again, whether that's affiliates or doctor's offices or other businesses out there.
But finding these, the relationships can be worth the, the, the time and effort put up front. 'cause once it's sold. They may sell your product for years and really help grow and, and, and, uh, you know, essentially working like retail. Right. Getting off off the shelf.
[00:19:31]
Hank Cheatham
Yeah. Well, brokers fall, brokers fall in that category also.
[00:19:35]
Host
Yes. Right. Absolutely. You can get the right broker to sell your product and if they can help you with retail also because they have the connection with the buyers at the, at all of the retail stores to present your product. Uh, of course the problem is finding the right broker and working out an arrangement. That you can afford.
[00:19:54]
Hank Cheatham
Absolutely. Ex exactly. And at the right stage of the business as well.
[00:20:00]
Host
Let's rewind a little bit. I wanna talk about the, maybe the first success you had. As you said, it's a challenge to launch a product in the US in part because it's easy, right? There are fewer, in some categories, fewer regulatory hurdles, so there's a lot of competition.
So in order to have success with your launch, getting off the ground. You know, launching something is maybe the easy part, but getting revenue back and having people buy it can be maybe the more difficult part and it is a challenge. Um, what was the first big success that you had, whether it was with the Brain Health product or another, that, you know, working as a subsidiary, what, what really helped you to take off in the first place?
[00:20:37]
Hank Cheatham
Well, the fact that we already have other products, uh, that we were selling is very helpful because. It wasn't as though we were approaching a distribution channel completely cold.
So when it came to retail, we don't have a huge retail presence, but of the retail, uh, that we do have, we got an immediate success by going to retails who already carried our other product. And just presenting this one as a new product. And that got a lot of interest. And then when they saw that the product really does have some efficacy, they were able to help us promote it. And the other thing is we also had the product with various distributors, so we were able to bring this product in to other distributors and they would help, as you mentioned, self force as well.
But the biggest initial success was we got a hold of an Amazon broker. Or an Amazon consultant, I should say, who was very knowledgeable and very good at uh, taking other media elements and putting them in support of our Amazon effort. And once we got started on Amazon, that's when we really started to see some growth.
[00:21:52]
Host
It can be a great avenue, Amazon specifically to, to get a product off the ground, especially when it's, uh, it's a new product, but it's a category people are familiar with, so they're searching for brain health in general, and it's just standing out among, among the crowd can be a great avenue.
[00:22:06]
Hank Cheatham
Well, the thing is that Amazon, whether you like it or you don't, it's a big, it's a huge factor and uh, the best thing to do is just not ignore it, but try to embrace it.
Uh, there's, from what I've read. There's something like, uh, 55,000 companies or more who sell at least a million dollars on Amazon. So I mean, they, their, their, their audience and their, uh, consumer depth is just so massive that it's something that you just can't ignore.
Uh, the thing is that once you start selling on Amazon, after you get your first million or so. You have to realize that the people who buy on Amazon, those are Amazon customers and you wanna make them your customers. So you go after, put some programs together to go after those people so that, uh, if Amazon were to go away, they'll be buying directly from you. But, uh, I would say that Amazon's a good place to start, but go with a consultant who knows what they're doing.
Uh, got their own quirks and, uh, when things change from one week to the next, you have to have an expert there, help you. Uh. Wind your way through it.
[00:23:24]
Host
Absolutely agree. Last question I have is, uh, specific to the product at least is let's talk about the brain health category and the need for credibility.
You know, when we're selling a product where you can demonstrate how it works, you can see before afters, you know, a cleaning product, a kitchen gadget, whatever it might be. In some ways it's a little bit easier to build credibility, at least 'cause you can show it working brain health or other supplements. We don't have that benefit, so it's hard to see results. So you've got. Studies we've talked about, and you've got existing products, an existing base, but what has helped you to really build credibility behind Diwa Brain Health and other products so that consumers trust you enough to purchase?
[00:24:05]
Hank Cheatham
Well, as you mentioned, the research was very helpful, and we have two, two published research studies.
Uh, we've had, um, press releases, uh, and we've done some advertising, uh, behind the product, so. It's just starting now that some people are starting to hear about it. So that's, uh, that's a step in the right direction. But I think the biggest thing, and that's true of any product, if you take the product and as you mentioned Jon, you felt something, you actually feel something, then you're gonna be interested and you'll be interested in buying it again.
So what it boils down to is you gotta have a good product and that good product has gotta. Sh produce the benefit that you're expecting and the benefit that you're expecting is that you're gonna see some difference. Something else that we've noticed is that younger people, I mean, I think you alluded to this earlier, uh, maybe in their forties and fifties, are starting to pay attention now to these types of products as a preventative.
To help them 'cause they know their older years are coming. Um, and so start now. The other thing we've seen, it's not a huge, uh, uh, piece of the market yet, but it's certainly one that does exist and I think it'll be growing. We've noticed that some college graduate students. Have been taking Diar brain health, especially during their exam weeks, they're starting to see some benefit from 'em, and it's helping them with, uh, their studies and helping them focus even at a young age in their twenties.
[00:25:45]
Host
Absolutely. And as I, as I said, you know, I'm a little bit. Past the graduate school, but I'm not quite the centenarian. I'm in the middle and it, and I've noticed a big difference. And I do encourage our audience, you know, check out this product. Hank and his team have have developed a great marketing program behind a great product.
And Hank, as you said, you know, one of the best ways or maybe the best way to build credibility is by having a good product in the first place. Good marketing is important 'cause you gotta get that message to people, otherwise they'll never hear about the product no matter how good it is. But you've gotta back it up with a real. Product with real benefits, and you've certainly done that.
Hank, for any of our audience that might be interested in learning more about the product or the company in general, how do they get ahold of you or how do they learn, I guess, about Diwa and your other products?
[00:26:26]
Hank Cheatham
Well, you go to the website, uh, it's www dot dhd, that's delta hotel delta usa.net, dhd usa.net. Uh, if you want to email us and get information, it's info. Act dh dsa.net and uh, you can also, uh, call us on the telephone. Um, it's, uh, Diwa Health Development. In Los Angeles. Um, and we do have a toll free number, and if you wanna give me a second, I can give it to you.
[00:27:11]
Host
Sure, sure. And I'll mention while you're looking it up to our audience, as always, all these in details are in the show notes and Hank and his team are actually offering a 20% discount. Promo code as well, and that'll be in the show notes. So look on YouTube or, or on any of the podcast platforms that you're on or on our website, harvest growth podcast.com. And you can see in the show notes, um, the phone number, the website address. Maybe most importantly, the promo code to be able to save 20% off of, off of your order.
Lots of ways to get ahold of Hank and his team. You can also check out the product on Amazon as well. Uh, just by searching for Diwa. Uh, he's got several products on there. As I mentioned. The one I'm most familiar with is the Diwa Brain Health product. Of course what I'm saying. The phone number is (866) 475-4810.
[00:28:06]
Hank Cheatham
Yeah, sorry
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