Andrew Thomas:  The Man Who Changed How Britain Thinks About Magnesium

How a chance meeting in an American bar led to the creation of BetterYou and a twenty-year mission to help people absorb nutrients more effectively.

There are certain moments in life that seem insignificant at the time. A delayed flight. A missed train. A chance conversation with a stranger. Looking back, those moments often become the pivot points around which an entire life turns.

For Andrew Thomas, founder of BetterYou, that moment happened thousands of miles from home in North Carolina.

At the time, Andrew was not working in the supplement industry. His career had taken him through publishing and into international retail marketing, eventually becoming Head of European Retail Marketing for Wrangler Jeans. Yet despite a successful career, there was one challenge that had followed him since childhood. Asthma.

“I’d been asthmatic since my school days,” he recalls. “I was around forty years old and still dependent on a steroid inhaler.”

While attending a rodeo event in North Carolina, he placed his inhaler on a bar while buying drinks. A nearby biochemist noticed it.

“He simply turned to me and said, ‘I can get you off that.’”

It was the kind of comment most people would dismiss immediately. Instead, Andrew found himself drawn into a conversation that would change the course of his life.

The biochemist, Juan Rosello, explained his work with magnesium balance and the role minerals play within the body. More specifically, he described a form of magnesium chloride that could be applied directly to the skin.

At the end of the conversation, Juan promised to leave some at Andrew’s hotel. True to his word, he did.

The Beginning of a Twenty-Year Journey

Back in the UK, Andrew began following the routine Juan had suggested, applying magnesium chloride regularly to his upper body. After several weeks, something began to change.

“I felt more flexible. I noticed I wasn’t using my inhaler as much. I started asking myself whether it was placebo or whether there was genuinely something happening.”

When his supply ran out, Andrew contacted Juan and asked where he could buy more. The answer surprised him.

“You can’t buy it,” he told him.

The magnesium solution came from a remote mine in northern Holland and was not commercially available. Most samples sent to researchers and practitioners had reportedly ended up forgotten or discarded. Andrew was intrigued and rather than moving on, he booked a flight.

The journey took him from Amsterdam by train and then bus to a solution mine where spring water is pumped deep underground into a magnesium-rich seam formed from ancient evaporated seawater. The resulting magnesium chloride solution is then brought back to the surface in an exceptionally pure form.

Standing there, listening to the geologists explain the origins and purity of the mineral deposit, Andrew became captivated.

“I was completely enthralled by it,” he says. “The passion they had and the purity of the material was extraordinary.”

By the end of the meeting, a handshake agreement had been reached. Andrew would introduce this remarkable form of magnesium to the health market. BetterYou was born.

One Product. One Mission.

The company launched with a single product. Today it is recognised by millions as BetterYou Magnesium Oil Original Spray, but at the time it represented something genuinely different.

Rather than swallowing a tablet or capsule, users applied magnesium directly onto their skin.

Andrew explains that magnesium chloride has one of the weakest molecular bonds among magnesium compounds, allowing the magnesium ion to separate rapidly and move through the skin into the body’s interstitial fluid before gradually entering circulation.

For him, the results were life-changing. “I’m now almost two decades asthma-free,” he says.

While regulations rightly prevent supplement companies from making medical claims, Thomas remains passionate about the importance of magnesium and the role mineral balance can play in overall wellbeing. That passion has helped transform public awareness.

When BetterYou launched more than twenty years ago, magnesium was rarely discussed outside specialist nutritional circles. Today, it has become one of the most talked-about nutrients in the wellness world.

The Mineral Modern Life Forgot

Andrew believes much of the modern challenge comes down to balance.

“In the West we tend to consume significantly more calcium than magnesium,” he explains.

Calcium-rich diets, dairy consumption and agricultural practices all contribute to elevated calcium intake, while magnesium-rich foods such as leafy greens, nuts, seeds and whole grains often feature less prominently in modern diets.

The relationship matters because the two minerals perform opposing functions within the body.

Calcium helps muscles contract and tissues harden, while magnesium helps muscles relax and recover. When that balance shifts too heavily towards calcium, Andrew believes the consequences can be felt throughout the body.

His fascination with magnesium extends far beyond muscle cramps or sleep support.

“Every cell in the body requires magnesium,” he says. “Brain cells, nerve cells, muscle cells, skin cells. If magnesium levels are sub-optimal, that cell simply cannot function as effectively as it should.”

This cellular perspective has become one of the foundations of BetterYou’s philosophy.

Science Before Trends

One of the most striking things about Andrew is his refusal to chase wellness trends. In an industry often driven by social media hype and fleeting consumer obsessions, BetterYou has taken a slower path. “We focus on need rather than desire,” he says.

Instead of searching for the latest fashionable ingredient, he begins with scientific evidence and real-world nutritional challenges. That approach explains why BetterYou concentrated on magnesium long before it became mainstream and why the company later expanded into vitamin D and vitamin B12.

Years before vitamin D dominated headlines, Andrew was studying emerging research highlighting its importance for immune function.

“There were only a handful of vitamin D products available in the UK at the time,” he says. “The challenge wasn’t creating demand. The challenge was educating people.”

The same philosophy continues today. Every new product begins with research, testing and scientific validation before it ever reaches a consumer.

Learning from Scientific Minds

Andrew is quick to point out that he does not see himself as the smartest person in the room. Instead, he has spent two decades surrounding himself with people who are.

His scientific network includes biochemists, pharmacologists, gastroenterologists and university researchers who have helped validate BetterYou’s innovations through formal studies and clinical investigations.

“I never let these people go,” he laughs. “When I meet brilliant minds, I stay connected to them because I learn so much.”

That curiosity has become one of his defining traits. He speaks less like a businessman selling products and more like someone genuinely fascinated by how the human body works. It is a quality that has shaped BetterYou’s reputation for innovation.

Reinventing Nutrient Delivery

Today, BetterYou offers around sixty products, yet Andrew remains focused on a surprisingly simple principle. Food comes first.

“We are not an A-to-Z supplement company,” he says. “We believe in food first. Our role is to help fill the gaps left by modern diets and lifestyles.”

The company’s most significant contribution may not be specific nutrients but how those nutrients are delivered.

BetterYou became a pioneer of oral spray technology, developing methods that allow nutrients such as vitamin D, B12 and iron to be absorbed through the soft tissues of the mouth rather than relying entirely on digestion.

The technology has attracted attention from healthcare professionals and public health organisations alike.

Several BetterYou products are now available through healthcare prescribing pathways, with more expected to follow. For Andrew, this represents validation of years of research and persistence.

“You have to demonstrate absorption and efficacy,” he explains. “You have to prove the nutrient reaches the bloodstream and performs as intended.”

It is a lengthy process, but one he believes is essential.

Innovation Takes Time

Many companies are obsessed with rapid growth and instant results, Andrew is refreshingly patient. Developing a new product can take eighteen months, two years or even longer.

Every formulation undergoes stability testing, scientific evaluation and manufacturing trials before it reaches the market.

“We have products we’re working on now that have been in development for years,” he says.

That patience reflects a broader philosophy, the goal is not simply to launch products but to launch products that genuinely work.

One example is BetterYou’s forthcoming turmeric oral spray, designed to address one of the longstanding challenges associated with curcumin absorption.

By creating a delivery system that keeps curcumin molecules suspended and allows absorption through the buccal membrane, the company hopes to improve bioavailability without relying on traditional digestive pathways.

For Andrew, these advances are exciting not because they are commercially attractive but because they solve real-world problems.

Wellness with Purpose

While BetterYou’s scientific credentials are impressive, Thomas is equally proud of the company’s social and environmental commitments.

The business has been palm oil free for more than two decades and is now a certified B Corp.

Perhaps more significantly, every employee receives one paid day each month to support a charity or community initiative of their choosing.

From supporting families fleeing domestic abuse to helping local community projects, the programme has become deeply embedded within the company’s culture.

“It gives people purpose beyond the workplace,” Andrew says.

Today, BetterYou employs more than fifty people, most of them based in the UK, and distributes products internationally across Europe and North America.

Yet despite its growth, the company still feels remarkably close to its origins. The story began not with a business plan or market analysis, but with curiosity. A chance conversation sparked a question. A question led to exploration. Exploration became conviction. Conviction became a company.

Two decades later, Andrew Thomas remains driven by the same motivation that first took him to a remote magnesium mine in Holland. To understand what the body truly needs and to find better ways of delivering it.

In an industry often dominated by marketing noise, that commitment to science, education and genuine wellbeing may be BetterYou’s greatest innovation of all.

DISCOVER: betteryou.com