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Manufacturing
MANUFACTURING
How are organ supplements made?
PROPER CARE
How your organ supplement is manufactured makes a huge difference in the final product.
Too much heat or heavy processing can cause damage to many of the important fragile compounds found in these awesome foods.
DRYING
How your organ supplement is dried has a huge impact on the final product.
Harsh, excessive, high-temperature drying will lead to the degradation and destruction of fragile compounds. It will also lead to a loss of nutrients.
These types of drying methods are much faster and cheaper, so many companies use them to save money, because it is easy to hide on the label.
In addition many drying methods may have the same name, but there can be huge variables in how they are done and the temperatures used, which can affect the final product, without being shown on the label.
DRYING
Freeze-drying, also known as lyophilization is a great method for most organ supplements. It will not work for all organs though.
Freeze drying is a low-temperature process that freezes the food, lowers the pressure, and then removes the moisture through sublimation.
This is a relatively simple process that leaves nearly all of the nutritional value intact and protects the fragile compounds.
DRYING
DRYING
Proper vacuum-drying is done for raw materials that are hygroscopic and heat sensitive.
The vacuum created in the chamber allows the material to dry faster and at lower temperatures than spray-drying. It is also much lower pressure than other forms of drying, which helps to protect fragile compounds.
DRYING
Most of our organ supplements are freeze-dried.
The following have different drying methods because they require a more specialized process:
Bone Marrow - Vacuum-Dried
Whole Bone Matrix - Vacuum Dried
Some Collagens - Vacuum Dried
There are other drying methods that can be used, some better than others including spray-drying, vacuum drying, drum drying.
Spray-drying and drum-drying tend to be the highest temperature and the most intense, so we generally recommend avoiding organ supplements made with those.
DEFATTED
Many organ supplements are defatted. This process makes it easier for supplement companies to manufacture and increases the shelf life, but it removes a lot of beneficial nutrition.
The process can also be very harsh which can damage fragile compounds.
Avoid defatted organ supplements.
PROCESSING
Most of our glandular supplements are produced very simply.
The materials are washed, freeze-dried, milled, and encapsulated.
Very simple and easy.
Nothing taken away, while the fragile compounds and nutrients are preserved.
Some materials such as bone marrow, collagens, and whole bone matrix require a few extra steps.
PROCESSING
Bone marrow requires a bit of extra work in order to turn it into a supplement.
Manufacturing bone marrow matrix is carried out by soaking the leg bones (femur bones rich in marrow) in a mild salty, acidic water to optimise the extraction process, to release the rich bone marrow along with the amino acids as well as glycosaminoglycans from the bone. Australian Murray River salt and apple cider vinegar is used to maintain optimum pH and conditions to extract all the nutritional elements from the bone.
The solid bone is then removed by straining and the remaining liquor is vacuum dried to remove water and retain the marrow matrix heat sensitive vitamins, minerals and peptides. Following the drying process the bone marrow matrix extract is milled into a powder which contains marrow as well as other minerals and natural salts from the bone, including peptides, collagen and glycosaminoglycans.
Unfortunately, too many companies use harsh methods instead of these gentle ones because they are faster and cheaper.
Make sure you know how your bone marrow supplement is made.
PROCESSING
Whole bone matrix, natures best source of calcium, also requires a bit of extra work in order to turn it into a supplement.
NXGEN Whole Bone Matrix is made using leg bones from 100% Australian Lake Eyre Beef Bones.
Selected Grass Fed Bones are ground into bone chips approximately 10 mm in size. Following this the bone chips are cleaned at a low temperature with an enzyme in water to remove any non-bone tissue and marrow fat. The cleaned bone chips are then vacuum dried over a 24 hour period to remove moisture and retain heat sensitive nutrients. Finally, the dried bone is milled into a fine powder for encapsulation.
Unfortunately, too many companies use harsh methods instead of these gentle ones because they are faster and cheaper.
Make sure you know how your whole bone calcium is made.
PROCESSING
Whole food collagens also require a bit of extra work to turn them into a supplement.
At low temperature, the materials such as trachea, scapula, and other collagen rich parts, are cleaned with enzymes, such as bromelain and proteases, in water, to remove the parts that are not needed and allow a higher level of beneficial compounds in the final product.
Then the product is dried at low temperatures to remove moisture and preserve the heat sensitive, fragile compounds and nutrients. Then it is milled into a fine powder for encapsulation.
Unfortunately, too many companies use harsh methods instead of these gentle ones because they are faster and cheaper.
Make sure you know how your whole food collagen is made.
MILLING
Milling is the process of turning the raw materials into a smaller size so that they can properly manufactured and encapsulated.
It is important that a company has the right milling machines for the right raw materials, because different materials may need different milling techniques. Using the wrong one can cause damage to the fragile compounds in these foods.
ENCAPSULATION
After being processed, dried, and milled the products should be into capsules and bottled.
Gelatin capsules are better at protecting many of the fragile capsules found in organs than vegetable capsules. Plus, you get some extra gelatin, which has its own health benefits.
Encapsulating organs is a slow and delicate process when done right.
In order to speed this up, many companies will use a lot of processing aids and flow agents, to reduce their costs.
Look for organ supplements without added fillers, flow agents, binders, and excipients.
MANUFACTURING
Most organ supplement companies do not manufacture their own products.
Look for companies that have a direct relationship with their farmers, meaning they get the organ meats directly from their farm, not sent to one facility for drying, then another for manufacturing, etc.
Look for companies who actually manufacture the product from getting the raw material in, to drying and milling, to encapsulating.
This allows them to get a much fresher product and have complete control over the quality.
FINAL PRODUCT
Knowing how your product is processed from start to finish is very important if you want to get a great product.
Buzzwords and marketing terms like raw, unprocessed, cold processed, etc, have no actual meaning and can be used on anything.
A good product will be completely transparent about the manufacturing process, not just use marketing terms.
We are proud that our farm-to-bottle organ supplements offer complete transparency!
Are you unsure what organ might be best for you?
It's easy to schedule a free call and get some answers. Just click the book now button to your right!
If care is not taken in how your supplement is made, then many of the beneficial compounds found in these incredible foods will be damaged or destroyed.
