“He thought it was kind of interesting, because he was trying to sell his phytoplankton to the aquarium market, and then all of a sudden this guy from Canada calls him and says, ‘I’m going to eat it,’” joked Hunter, CEO of Blugenics.

His late mother, as a nurse, helped people recover from their health conditions, seemed a fitting homage to call the new product after her, Karen, and “because ‘marine phytoplankton’ is pretty unsexy to market.”

The first “guinea pig” given the mixture was a pharmacist in Sackville, New Brunswick, who eschewed his Pepto Bismol for acid reflux, for phytoplankton powder. It worked so well that he bought a ton — $5,000 worth, and purchased it for seven of his stores.

Soon enough, the products were approved by Health Canada, and cultivated in a state-of-the-art facility, certified according to strict global food safety protocols HACCP and ISO 22,000.

Since launching in 2015, it took just two years for Karen to be the fastest and best selling nutritional supplement among distributors, with $2+ million in sales.

Today, Karen powder and tablets are sold in 3,500 locations in Canada including Shoppers Drug Mart, Rexall, Pharmasave, and Guardian pharmacies.

Among the regular users are NHL players, marathon runners, bodybuilders, and other athletes.

In fact, many athletic customers have conveyed to Hunter that they have replaced their over-the-counter commercial so-called “power-drinks” — laden with sugars, chemicals and flavourings — with the healthier alternative of phyto-powder drink mixtures. After a jog, a power-walk, a workout, yard work, or even after sex, it’s an all-natural recharge that replenishes the system.

“We often hear from people that they’ve made this a part of their post-workout regimen,” Hunter says. “I’m not particularly surprised; you’re putting back into your body the minerals it burned, and without the added junk.” There are even customers, he says, who have replaced their mid-day coffee with a Karen tablet, to boost them through the rest of the office hours.

Customers have also reported other positive health results, such as minimizing digestive problems, and combating lethargy. He adds: “again, it’s because of the powerful nutritional components in phytoplankton that boost the body’s ability to function well.”

And speaking of food uses, one restaurateur has found an interesting use for it.

Best selling cookbook author, and proprietor of The Inn at Bay Fortune on Prince Edward Island, Chef Michael Smith, is using it in his recipes that call for a smoked oyster taste, therefore consumable by people with shellfish allergies.

The suite of Blugenics products also includes Karen lotion, popularly used as an “all in one” unisex topical skin ointment. So whether it’s dry skin, oily skin, acne issues, or anything in between, it has hydrating power, as well as phytoplankton minerals, to seep deep into the skin, repairing the problems in an all-natural way.

“This is a great all-purpose way to take good care of your skin,” Hunter says, “even if you don’t have any problems, it’s good for maintaining the health of your skin, as it ages, or is exposed to the elements.”

Men are also using Karen moisturizing lotion as an after shave, preferring the soft, silky, smooth feel of the cream to overly-perfumed chemically-loaded name-brand products that make the face ‘sting.’

“You need something that cleanses the face and works at healing micro-abrasions. That’s what Karen does. It’s built to soothe and heal, and infuse the skin with repairing minerals.”

Hunter added: “Men are swearing by this, that the bumps, cuts, nicks, and rawness goes away faster from using Karen lotion, than splashing on whatever other generic stuff they picked up before from the shaving aisle in the store.”

In many ways, David Hunter is a health industry trailblazer, introducing more and more people to the superior healing properties of phytoplankton. “What could be more fulfilling,” he says, “than offering something to the world that makes people’s lives better.”