Amway
October 23, 2026
ADA, Michigan - October 23, 2026
Amway is widening its research relationship with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, adding metabolic health, cognition and the role of antioxidants in cellular health to a collaboration that until now has centered on gut health and healthy aging, the Ada, Michigan-based direct seller announced Thursday.
The expanded agreement marks the second phase of a partnership that began in 2021, when Amway established the Amway Healthspan Fund at the institute. The fund was set up to support work on how gut health and the microbiome affect healthspan, a term researchers use for the number of years a person is able to live an active, independent life, as opposed to lifespan alone. Research articles supported through the fund are published on the institute's Micronutrient Information Center, an online database on the roles of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and other dietary factors in health. Amway said the portal is one of the most visited sites at Oregon State University, with more than 1.5 million users from nearly every country.
In 2025, Amway helped fund a study by the institute on the role gut health plays in healthy aging. That research was later published in a peer-reviewed nutrition journal, according to the company.
The new phase moves the collaboration into three additional areas that Amway described as critical to healthspan: metabolic health, cognitive health, and how antioxidants function at the cellular level. The company did not disclose the size of its funding commitment, the length of the new phase, or whether the work is tied to specific products in its Nutrilite supplement line, which is the company's top-selling brand.
Sudhir Baswan, PhD, a senior open innovation scientist at Amway, said the institute is internationally recognized for its work on phytonutrients and human health, and that the expanded effort is intended to deepen scientific understanding of how plant-based compounds, dietary patterns and overall nutrition influence healthspan. The institute is named for Linus Pauling, the chemist who remains the only person to have received two unshared Nobel Prizes, for Chemistry in 1954 and for Peace in 1962.
The relationship between the company and the institute runs in both directions. Emily Ho, PhD, the institute's endowed chair and director and a distinguished professor in Oregon State's College of Health, also sits on Amway's Scientific Advisory Board. Ho, whose research focuses on personalized nutrition for healthy aging, said nutrition is central to advancing healthspan because it affects health throughout the body, and that with so much misinformation in circulation, research findings need to be made accessible to the public rather than staying in the lab.
Kristi Pelc, Amway's chief research and development officer, said the expansion strengthens the company's support for the institute's research and demonstrates its focus on healthspan. She added that the work "instills confidence in our Amway Business Owners and their customers around the world."
That last point reflects how direct sellers increasingly use university research ties as part of the story their distributors tell about products. Partnerships of this kind typically fund independent research at the institution rather than clinical testing of a company's own formulas, and Amway's announcement did not describe any product claims arising from the new work.
The announcement comes at a busy time for the company in the United States. Earlier this month a federal judge in Seattle entered Amway's $225 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Washington, which will require sweeping changes to the company's U.S. compensation plan beginning in mid-2027, including a requirement that distributors resell at least 70 percent of the products they buy each month to earn full bonus credit. The settlement addresses earnings and recruiting practices rather than product science, and Thursday's research announcement did not reference it.
Amway, privately held by the DeVos and Van Andel families, sells nutrition, beauty and home products through independent business owners in more than 100 countries and territories. Its leading brands include Nutrilite, Artistry and XS. The company describes itself as the world's largest direct selling business based on 2025 revenue, citing an annual industry ranking.
Npros will continue to follow Amway's research partnerships and its implementation of the FTC order.