It was created in 1943 by George Nicholas in Chadstone, a suburb of Melbourne, and initially marketed as a nutritional supplement available only in pharmacies.
This wealth enabled them to diversify into nutritional supplements, including Akta-Vite.
[2] Many nutrients were not readily available in synthetic form in the 1940s, with natural ingredients including vitamin A from shark livers.
[1] Akta-Vite was exported to Southeast Asia in the 1950s, and became a well-known brand in Thailand,[3] being sold in an orange tin can.
[2] The brand was sold to the Sara Lee Corporation in 1984, and bought back by the Nicholas family in 2016.