When I first got ads online from a health brand called ThisGood Co (ThisGood), I admit I was a bit sceptical. Maybe it’s an occupational hazard, after seeing one too many brands claim to offer some great health benefit only to have pseudoscientific products that aren’t backed by research.
But it turns out that the person behind ThisGood, Jinn, is a registered pharmacist. I still had many questions, of course, such as exactly what this Malaysian brand is offering.
Speaking to Jinn, who is the project director, I learnt that she has been in healthcare entrepreneurship since 2015. This, she said, has shaped her into being an intuitive person when it comes to functional food products.
ThisGood is also backed by a parent company in the health food and nutritional sector. Although Jinn didn’t reveal the name of the company, she explained that it mostly supplies to brands in the health food industry.
Accustomed to working with industry partners to source premium ingredients, Jinn has brought her valuable insights to ThisGood.
However, it’s not just because of her expertise in the field that Jinn started ThisGood; rather, there’s a personal reason behind it.
A personal motivator
Several years ago, Jinn’s family faced a challenging period whereby one of her loved ones was diagnosed with cancer. She came to a realisation about the fragility of life as well as the transformative power of emotions.
One day, while waiting for a doctor’s appointment, Jinn also overheard another patient’s discussion with his family about weighing his treatment options and costs.
“It was at that time I realised the number of families affected by the huge sum of medical costs that was required [for] each hospital visit, and what’s worse was there was no insurance coverage entitled,” she said. “As a healthcare professional myself, I always believe everyone deserves quality healthcare.”
There are many ways one could set out to do just that, but for Jinn, the answer lay in ThisGood.
“We wanted to infuse hope, smiles, and focus into people’s lives, reminding every one of us that we deserve pause, rest, and balance,” she explained.
These emotions that she named actually align with products sold by ThisGood.
Let’s talk about the product
Products that can evoke emotions admittedly sound too good to be true, though. If you could create emotions like hope that easily, wouldn’t the world be a much happier place?
So, it’s important to understand that ThisGood doesn’t promise literal hope in a bottle, focus in a bottle, or a smile in a bottle. It’s not so much a magic cure as vitamins and supplements that can help you along your wellness journey.
ThisGood REST supposedly “fires neuron to induce sleep onset and matches circadian rhythm to switch off for healthy, deep, long quality sleep”, and its ingredients include items that have been known to promote sleep.
For example, passion flower extract is considered a dietary supplement for anxiety and sleep problems.
However, according to, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health on an official website of the United States government, passion flower’s effect on anxiety and other conditions hasn’t been studied extensively.
Aside from that, the product also includes lemon balm extract, Ashwagandha extract, and Valerian root extract, which are all common things used in stress relief and sleep supplements.
“To evoke these emotions, we conduct thorough research, seek diverse perspectives, and actively gather feedback,” Jinn said. “While emotions are subjective, our goal is to create a universal experience that resonates authentically with individuals, making a positive impact on their well-being.”
Apparently, ThisGood works with “leading labs and experts” to formulate the products. The process of creating these products involve rounds of trial and testing to ensure quality.
“Quality is non-negotiable for us, and we go to great lengths to ensure that every product that bears our name undergoes rigorous testing,” Jinn insisted.
All the facilities and equipment also adhere to the highest safety standards and regulations, Jinn said, with them being halal-certified, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)-implemented, ISO 9001:2008-certified, while abiding to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards.
Does it even work?
Looking at ThisGood products, though, I still can’t help but wonder just how effective it actually is. Why go for these little bottles of powder instead of just taking the more conventional supplement pills?
Jinn explained that ThisGood uses biotechnology to compress particles into micron sizes, which helps to increase the absorption of the product into the human body.
The sublingual ingestion of the products—which means taken under the tongue—is also known to help promote faster absorption.
“While mixing with liquid may slow absorption as the product goes through the entire digestive tract, [the] overall bioavailability [of ThisGood] remains consistent, maintaining the product’s efficacy,” Jinn said.
Dictionary Time: Bioavailability is a subcategory of absorption and is the fraction of an administered drug that reaches the systemic circulation.
My managing director Sarah actually gave ThisGood Focus a try and while it hasn’t seemed to have a great impact on her, she also hasn’t been very good about being consistent.
“While consumers may experience minor improvements within three weeks, the full and lasting effects of our products typically take root after consistent use over two to three months,” she said. “We prioritise long-term benefits to ensure sustained well-being for our customers.”
Each product is sold in sets of 14 or 28 vials. For the 28-vial set, each vial comes out to be around RM12, which does seem to be quite pricey, especially considering you don’t get the full effects unless you buy two to three of that set.
Aside from the efficacy, though, Sarah also had some feedback about the flavour of the product itself, sharing that it had tasted quite sour.
Jinn shared that the products are intentionally not flavoured to keep a clean profile, which means the flavour Sarah tasted was just the natural taste of the individual ingredients, which can vary batch by batch due to their all-natural origin.
“We do not add sugar or artificial flavourings, prioritising a pure and unadulterated product experience,” Jinn claimed.
More than health
Beyond health and wellness, ThisGood has a bolder ambition that goes back to its origin story.
Down the road, the company aims to expand its impact through a healthcare subsidy approach that involves contributing 20% of the net profit after tax to something called the ThisGood Healthcare Program.
“This is a pure initiative offered to our community as an aid to cover for healthcare-related subsidisation,” Jinn explained. “Application is open for all, support will be provided in the form of monetary (cash) and out of goodwill.”
As of now, though, a significant challenge at ThisGood is cash flow constraints, especially when it comes to the research and development phase. Jinn said that a substantial investment was necessary for formulating their products.
“Despite these challenges, we have navigated them by strategically managing resources, optimising our budget, and maintaining a focus on delivering high-quality products,” she said.
All that said, ThisGood is still relatively new, having just launched in April this year. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here.
Featured Image Credit: ThisGood Co / Vulcan Post
