TLC PureOrigin™ was founded by Dr. Eugene Capitano, DC, MSc. a chiropractor and clinician-researcher with more than 25 years of clinical experience, together with his son, Teo Capitano, an entrepreneur and the founder of Capitano Inc. What began as a father and son reading lab reports at the kitchen table became a company with one purpose: to build the clean, science-backed nutrition they couldn't find on the shelf.

The name carries that intent. To us, TLC also stands for "Today Lives Change", a commitment to purity, transparency, and formulating in line with how the body actually works, rather than against it.

When Teo began training seriously, we assumed the protein he was using was safe. Then we read the independent testing — and it changed how we thought about the whole category.

In its 2024–25 Protein Category Report, the Clean Label Project tested 160 protein powders from 70 leading brands and found that 47% exceeded California's Proposition 65 safety limits for toxic heavy metals in a single serving, with 21% at more than double the lead limit. In 2025, Consumer Reports tested 23 protein products and found that more than two-thirds contained more lead per serving than its experts consider safe to consume in a day, some by more than ten times.

What struck us most was where the contamination concentrated. The independent testing found the highest lead levels in the categories many people assume are the cleanest: plant-based powders averaged several times more lead than whey, organic products averaged more lead and cadmium than non-organic, and chocolate-flavoured powders averaged several times more lead than vanilla. The lesson was clear. A reassuring label, "organic," "plant-based," "natural", is not the same as a tested one.

Sitting at the kitchen table, father and son made a decision: build a protein we would be confident giving our own family, and prove it with data instead of adjectives.

At TLC PureOrigin, purity isn't defined by geography or by a word on the front of the bag, it's defined by testing. Our raw materials are independently tested at the University of Guelph, screened for heavy metals, and evaluated per serving against California's Proposition 65 limits. We hold ourselves to that standard even when it costs us: when an early rice-protein ingredient tested higher than we were willing to accept, we removed it from the formula rather than blend around it.

Every finished batch is validated again before it ships, and each bag carries a QR code and Lot Verification Number linked to the independent Certificate of Analysis for that specific batch, so you can scan it and see the numbers yourself rather than take our word for it. Our whey is multi-origin, sourced from dairy cooperatives across the U.S., E.U., and Oceania, all held to the same testing standard.

That is the honest answer to the problem we found: not a cleaner-sounding claim, but a verifiable one.

Dr. Eugene Capitano is a chiropractor, acupuncturist, and rehabilitation specialist with over 25 years in clinical practice. He is an American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Certified Personal Trainer and holds the Exercise is Medicine® Credential. In 2025 he completed his Master of Science in Psychology & Neuroscience of Mental Health at King's College London, graduating with Merit, where his research examined psychobiotics and the gut–brain axis in mental health.

That combination, clinical medicine, exercise physiology, and neuroscience, is the lens behind every TLC PureOrigin formula. He leads ingredient sourcing, third-party heavy-metal testing, and formulation personally, because the science only counts if someone stands behind it.

Teo Capitano has been building companies since he was a teenager. At 13, he taught himself to mine cryptocurrency, running his own bitcoin mining rig. At 16, he launched his first venture, Destiny Cosmetics Corp., an e-commerce brand. After graduating, he founded Capitano Inc., a Winnipeg-based staffing and employment agency he still leads today.

That drive was recognized early. He was selected for SHAD Canada, the national STEM and entrepreneurship program; represented his school at the Canadian High Schools Model United Nations (CAHSMUN) and the Forum for Young Canadians in Ottawa; and received a Member of Parliament Award from the MP for Winnipeg Centre for his leadership and contribution.

At TLC PureOrigin, Teo works behind the scenes as the company's strategic and digital mind. He was involved in the product's development and formulation, including time at NCode Foods alongside his father, and he shapes how the brand shows up online, advising on the Shopify store, the website, and the way each product and claim is presented. He's the one who pressure-tests decisions and pushes for sharper, cleaner, more credible execution. And it started with him: it was Teo's own experience as a young athlete, and a simple question about what was actually in the protein he was using, that set the company in motion.

We formulate around a simple principle: keep what the body understands, and leave out what it doesn't need. Dr. Capitano's review of the gut-microbiome literature focused on how certain additives. particularly synthetic emulsifiers such as polysorbate-80 and carboxymethylcellulose, have been shown in experimental studies to affect microbial diversity and the intestinal barrier. The evidence on non-nutritive sweeteners is more mixed and depends on the specific compound. Rather than wait for certainty, we chose the precautionary path.

So our formulas contain no synthetic emulsifiers, no artificial or non-nutritive sweeteners, and no synthetic additives. We sweeten lightly, when we sweeten at all, with a small amount of coconut sugar rather than high-intensity sweeteners. And instead of listing "natural flavours", a single term that can stand in for a mix of undisclosed ingredients, we name our flavour ingredients directly, such as real vanilla extract and ground vanilla bean. Every carrier and ingredient is declared on the panel.

We're not selling a miracle. We're doing the opposite of what much of the supplement industry does: telling you exactly what's in the product, why it's there, and what the evidence does — and doesn't — support. Every batch is tested. Every carrier is disclosed. Every claim is one we can defend.

Dr. Capitano and his son share a conviction that there are no shortcuts in health — that lasting strength comes from understanding how movement, nutrition, and mindset work together over a lifetime. That belief is the foundation of everything we make.

That's the promise behind the name. Built by family. Backed by science.

Make the rest of your life the best of your life.™