Weight management ingredients: specify carefully, claim nothing
This category attracts more adulteration and more regulatory attention than any other in nutraceuticals. The sourcing controls have to be correspondingly tighter.
Read article
Fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins need different handling, and different specs
The two vitamin families degrade by different mechanisms. Treating them the same on a specification means protecting each of them against the wrong thing.
Read article
Blend uniformity: why a correctly formulated multivitamin can still fail
A blend that is perfect in the mixer can separate in the drum, in transit and in the hopper. Particle size and density are what decide whether it holds together.
Read article
Stevia: Reb A, Reb M and why the glycoside profile is the product
Steviol glycosides are a family of compounds with different sweetness and different aftertaste. Total glycoside content says nothing about how the material tastes.
Read article
Beta-glucans: the source decides the molecule
Yeast, oat and mushroom beta-glucans share a name and little else. Their linkage structures differ, and so does the analysis needed to verify them.
Read article
Shatavari, tribulus and the saponin assay problem
Saponin-standardised botanicals are among the easiest extracts to inflate, because the common assay method responds to compounds that were never in the plant.
Read article
Bacopa monnieri: two bacoside numbers, two different methods
Bacopa extracts are standardised to bacosides, but the older spectrophotometric method and modern HPLC do not produce comparable figures.
Read article
Plant sterols and stanols: the sterol profile is the specification
Phytosterol materials are sold on total sterol content, but the composition behind that total varies with the feedstock — and regulators care about the composition.
Read article
Lutein and zeaxanthin: the format matters more than the percentage
Marigold-derived carotenoids are sold as oleoresins, oil suspensions and beadlets at wildly different strengths. Comparing them needs a common basis.
Read article
Digestive enzymes are sold by activity, not by weight
A milligram figure on an enzyme specification tells you almost nothing. Activity units are the specification, and the unit system has to be named.
Read article
Banned-substance testing: what sports nutrition customers will ask you to prove
Ingredients destined for sports nutrition carry a contamination risk that ordinary QC does not look for, and a certificate of analysis will not cover it.
Read article
Collagen peptides: source, molecular weight and the Bloom number that should not be there
Hydrolysed collagen is specified by average molecular weight and source. A Bloom value on the certificate usually means you are being quoted gelatin.
Read article
ORAC, DPPH and FRAP: interesting numbers that do not belong on a purchase specification
Antioxidant capacity assays are cheap, impressive-looking and almost useless for quality control. Here is what to specify instead.
Read article
Inulin, FOS and GOS: chain length is what you are actually specifying
Prebiotic fibres are sold on purity but behave according to their degree of polymerisation. That single parameter decides sweetness, solubility and process tolerance.
Read article
Probiotics: the CFU count you buy is not the one your customer gets
A probiotic quoted at 100 billion CFU per gram is quoting a number at manufacture. What matters is the count at the end of shelf life, under your storage conditions.
Read article