NutraWomen Wednesday: Dr. Tracey Seipel, Urox formulator

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Even though urinary incontinence impacts millions of people, it’s still a topic that people don’t want to discuss —not even with their own doctors.

“One of the leading Australian women's magazines looked at the top five health concerns for Australians. You knew it would be heart disease, osteoporosis, weight control, but in number three was urinary incontinence. And that was the first time I really became aware of what an issue it was for many women,” explained Dr. Tracey Seipel, an award winning natural product formulator, naturopathic doctor, medical herbalist, and clinical nutritionist.

As a formulator in Australia for nutraceutical companies in Australia, Siepel took that health concern in the third spot and developed Urox.

“I must have pitched the bladder control incontinence formula to four different companies and contract manufacturers and nobody was interested. Nobody really wanted to talk about it. They thought it was embarrassing and it just affected older women and nobody really wanted to discuss it," explained Seipel.

Knowing she had something special, Seipel took the situation into her own hands.

“I thought well, how can this be? I'd always been quite an entrepreneur. I'll just do it myself, you know, start a company, research and development company, and launch the formula, which I actually did in Australia in 1999.”

Today, Urox is available in 13 different countries, the US being her biggest market.

“But really in hindsight that's part and parcel of being first to market, having a very new idea, I think by the time you do get to market, you've had to overcome a lot of obstacles in the process.”

Seipel said that initially she was focused on women. However, over time she realized it’s a problem that affects just about everyone.

“It's not just women, it's women post-pregnancy, it's women after menopause, but it's men as well, like with prostate health, or with lower urinary tract symptoms. So there's this whole paradigm shift that really needs to happen with men as well.”