by Carrie A. Corson, from the January 2001 Newsletter

Okay, so just what are those "other ingredients" that are listed on the labels of most of the supplements found here at the Co-op? Do they contribute or detract from the desired effect of the supplement? And why aren't they listed with all of the rest of the ingredients on the nutritional label? These are questions I am often asked by customers. I thought I would take this opportunity to answer them.

Supplement manufacturers usually refer to these "other ingredients" as excipients. Excipients are defined as 'non-active ingredients essential to the manufacturing process.' They are used for such diverse reasons as preventing machinery clogging, binding nutrients, and in the case of "fillers," are added to active ingredients in order to conform to the requirements of tableting and encapsulating equipment.

Excipients may, indeed, contribute to the desired effect of a supplement. For instance cellulose—a purified plant fiber—is used by many natural supplement manufacturers as a sustained-releasing agent. It also aids tablet disintegration when ingested. While most supplement manufacturers do not believe these excipients detract from the desired effect of a supplement, there are some who feel that they are not a necessary part of supplement production.

One such manufacturer is Frontier Natural Products Co-op. Frontier feels that, in order to maintain the integrity of the herbs that they encapsulate, no excipients should be used. Therefore, when you buy a Frontier herbal supplement, you will see that the only ingredient not listed on the nutritional label is cellulose, which they use to make their vegetarian capsules. You might wonder how they could do this if excipients are essential to the manufacturing process. Maybe that definition should be changed to 'essential to the manufacturing processes used by most supplement manufacturers.' Unlike most supplement makers, Frontier does not use heat to process their herbs. Instead they cryogenically freeze them. They have found that this not only protects the freshness of the herb, it also greatly reduces the equipment-clogging problems faced by most makers. They feel so strongly about this ideal that they will not encapsulate an herb that cannot be processed without excipients. For instance, they do not encapsulate milk thistle, a popular herb for liver support. Because milk thistle seeds form a glue-like substance when ground, it is not possible to encapsulate the powder without an anti-caking agent. Therefore you will only find Frontier milk thistle in tincture form. It should be noted that Frontier only produces herbal supplements. No comparison can be made in the number of excipients that they might use in vitamin/mineral supplements.

Because they usually comprise a very low percentage of the total product, and/or they are used strictly for the manufacturing process, not to enhance the nutritional value of the supplement, excipients are not listed on the nutritional or supplement facts label.

Here are some definitions of the most common excipients on supplement labels here at the Co-op.

Magnesium Stearate: Magnesium combined with stearic acid; is a flow agent or anti-caking agent to facilitate encapsulating dry ingredients.

Gelatin: Collagen protein (animal source) used mainly for hard- and soft-capsule production.

Glycerin: Usually used in the production of soft gelatin capsules.

Silica: Primarily used as a flow and anti-caking agent.

Di-Calcium Phosphate: Calcium and phosphate mixture used as a filler and/or binding agent.

Stearic Acid: Fatty acid derived from vegetable oils used as a lubricant.

I hope you find this information helpful when purchasing supplements here at the Moscow Food Co-op.

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