New content released on Propolis and its benefit potential as a natural antibiotic. “It was interesting to read the release of ‘new’ research into the use and effect of prescription antibiotics today, found first on the BBC (.co.uk) website.
The studies, reported to be ‘new’ are basically only adding weight to something the medical community has known about for years, and we have written about countless times – over-prescribing antibiotics can lead to….” Read Full Propolis Article
Archive for November 21, 2011
Propolis Benefits as a Natural Antibiotic
Category: propolis |
Bee Pollen and Weight Loss
Bee pollen contains active ingredients with a proven ability to assist in weight loss and weight regulation.
There are many documented benefits to using bee pollen and it has long been associated with weight loss and weight regulation, but what evidence do we have via clinical research into these claims?…..read more about bee pollen and weight loss
Category: bee pollen |
Free Burt’s Bees Competition
Hi Folks,
We have a fun prize giveaway for the Holidays – an assortment of Burt’s Bees natural skin care products!
It’s simple to enter, first, if you haven’t done so already to need to register here – after you’ve registered you’ll be redirected back to this page.
Then, just write a short post in the box below and tell us anything about your experience with bee products. If you’ve used our products before, tell us what you think. Or tell us why you use them, or why you’re considering using them. Just a few lines and don’t forget to add your name and email so we can match the winner to the official registration form.
We’ll announce the winner on December 10th and get your box of goodies to you by the Holidays. Please note the competition rules if you haven’t done so already, they’re here
Have fun, and Happy Holidays!
Category: general info |
Propolis – what is it and is it safe?
Propolis is a substance used/created by honeybees for two important functions around the beehive. Imagine a ‘community’ with 35000 members, each packed into a tiny space, crawling over their neighbor and sharing the same food supply. It’s little wonder that the hive environment needs to be highly sanitized to prevent the development and spread of bacteria. That is the first and most important role of propolis – sanitation.
It is collected from tree bark and sap flows which have inherent anti-viral and anti bacterial properties. These properties are retained as the plant matter is collected and combined with bee secretions to form propolis, it is then used around the hive as a natural sanitizer. An example of its usefulness in this regard is in the rather unpleasant role of mummifying the carcasses of stray rodents and insects that wander into the hive and can’t escape. The creatures die and their carcass presents a major viral threat to the entire colony. So the bees rather ingeniously coat the entire carcass in bee propolis and essentially seal it against bacterial interaction with the hive environment.
Its second role is of less interest to us in terms of its potential benefits as a dietary supplement or topical agent, it is used in the hive to repair cracks in the hive structure. Many people imagine the beehive to be a completely sealed structure, where in fact it is not. It is essential for the inhabitants to have open airflow through the hive. Beeswax is used to fill larger holes and cracks and the propolis is applied around the smaller structural holes, but leaving sufficient opportunity for airflow to exist.
So we have a substance with a clear and important role within the confines of the beehive, but what interest can it be to us in the medical or dietary supplement field?
One area of medicine which causes a great deal of concern is the over-prescribing of antibiotics. It seems anyone with a cold, a toothache or a belly ache is prescribed antibiotic remedies. The issue is that your body starts to build a resistance to the actual medications you are taking. Each time you use them, they become a little less effective as your body adjusts to their presence. This is critical, since when you really do need an antibiotic to combat a more serious infection, it may not be effective enough to do the job. However, the body is able to differentiate between artificial and natural, when it sees these substances enter our system. A natural antibiotic can work in harmony with our body systems whereas a chemical agent designed to do the same thing, can cause a rejection, or a steady building up of immunity to its very presence. Propolis is a natural antibiotic agent. It is possible that propolis may be used to replace chemical agents in many situations, or be used alongside them to provide a more natural and effective barrier to bacterial invasion.
We can see the affects of Propolis at work more readily when it is used topically. Many people use it to treat cuts and abrasions and even canker sores and mouth ulcers. In this ‘open’ environment we can easily view and monitor its effectiveness. However, when taken internally, we need to conduct more rigorous clinical studies to establish the benefits and also to monitor possible negative side effects.
Oddly enough there are no FDA commissioned studies into bee propolis from which we can draw meaningful data. Generally, the cost of conducting such research is overly prohibitive for individual supplement companies to engage in. But there are a variety of medical scientists who have been commissioned independently to conduct studies into bee products like royal jelly and propolis, the majority of these studies have been undertaken in Europe, outside of the realms of the FDA.
Danish scientist, K. Lung Aagaard and French physician Remy Chauvin have spearheaded research into propolis with a view to establishing its bioavailability and determining processes required to make the substance useful and available as a medicinal aid. Extracting propolis resin and dehydrating the substance is quite an involved process and usually requires a soluble treatment with food grade alcohol or distilled water. Aagaard and Chauvin conducted a detailed study to devise methods of extracting propolis whilst retaining its nutritional integrity.
In his research paper, Professor S. Scheller talks about the ability of bee propolis to stimulate the immune system and says “it is possible to control the aging process and enjoy a long and healthy life. Propolis holds the key to this form of inner rejuvenation.”
This paper was prepared involving the first double-blind placebo-controlled study of the substance, where Professor Scheller lead a team of four other doctors at the Institute for Microbiology at the Medical Academy in Sabrze-Rokitinca, Poland. The study concluded that propolis did indeed have the power to prolong the prime of life, and that propolis is able to directly stimulate the immune system to release substances that protect against cellular deterioration.
Regrettably, we tend to be relatively slow on the uptake in the USA, when it comes to embracing the powerful substances provided to us by our own Mother Nature. The majority of propolis is still processed in the USA for export into Europe and Asia. When one looks for reasons, one does not need to look too far. The system of ‘lobbying’ within US Government allows extremely powerful companies to influence the decision making processes of the US Governmental departments, including the FDA. There is so much money involved in the pharmaceutical industry and so much pressure to prevent the embracing of natural substances into traditional medicine. One recent evaluation of the workings of the FDA released data suggesting that the average cost of having a substance approved for use as a ‘medication’ is somewhere around $25M. So to take a substance like propolis, have it evaluated by the FDA and provided with their seal of approval, would be far beyond the financial reach of any existing supplement company.
This really presents the public with something of a dilemma. In a sense, it creates an environment exactly the opposite to the one which the FDA tries to facilitate. It makes personal trial and experimentation the only viable option for a person to try out a natural remedy for themselves. But of course there are ways to do this in a controlled way and to minimize the risk. As covered in this article, some of the more interesting supplements are the subject of clinical research, though not always within the USA. There are also sources online where you can research public experiences with certain products, and make conclusions based on your own final judgement. But it is far from ideal.
Category: propolis |
Customer Feedback
We were delighted to stumble across this review of our company, written by one of our customers on a different blog page -
“The Natural Shopper are a company located in Egg Harbor WI, and specialize in the niche market of products from the beehive. Having taken a number of products over the years for energy and vitality, I can honestly say that having found their product “Total Bee Plus”, my long search is over. I’ve used royal jelly for a decade and believe with all my heart in its benefits as a natural supplement. But combining it with bee pollen, as with my Total Bee Plus, seems to take it to another level of effectiveness. My real surprise was when I rather foolishly ran out, within the short period that my new order took to arrive, I could really feel the negative difference in my energy and stamina levels. I do work out 3 or 4 times each week and my energy in the gym just wasn’t there.
For a while now I’ve been reading up on these supplements and I think the key to my Total Bee Plus is how the raw ingredients are sourced and subsequently handled/processed. I made a few phone calls to either bee product companies and could never get straight answers on their products, where they came from, how they were processed, were they pasteurized and all the other key points that one should know. With The Natural Shopper is was able to have all my questions answered on their website, in short and succinct statements, even with direct links to their competitor product for comparative purposes.
I will never go back!”
Category: bee products, company info |
Royal Jelly benefit / side effects
Royal Jelly benefit, side effects, understanding how to buy royal jelly – bee pollen.
Royal jelly is secreted from the salivary glands of worker bees to provide the food source for all young larvae. As the larvae develop and the Queen bee forms, royal jelly continues as her sole source of food. Looking at what’s in it in more detail, we see a mix of vitamins, minerals, proteins and fatty acids. Also of note is the presence of acid glycosides and sterols, such as stigmasterol.
Containing almost 70% water, we must look to its solid mass to search for any substances of nutritional interest, where we see a high percentage of proteins with many of the vitamins, minerals and amino acids that are the focus of a plethora of popular health supplements. Refer also to our sections on bee pollen and propolis. Nested inside royal jelly are all of the B vitamins along with vitamins A, C, D, E and K. There are 18 from the 22 amino acids found in the human body along with minerals and other important substances including nucleic acids and adenosine monophosphate (AMP) which is also found in Royal Jelly.
Health benefit of royal jelly – what can it do for me? It is important to understand that very few studies have been undertaken to examine the health benefit of royal jelly on humans, or put more aptly, the ‘potential’ health benefits. Always looking for safe and natural ways in which to augment our health, much attention has turned to Royal Jelly’s properties and various clinical studies on animals (rats and mice) have been undertaken. In animals, royal jelly has demonstrated the capacity to extend life and has shown at a DNA level a positive benefit on cells and cell regeneration, connected with anti aging and longevity.
Anti-fatigue effect of fresh royal jelly (on mice).
Documented within the Journal of Nutritional Science.
“We investigated the anti-fatigue effect of royal jelly, which had been stored at -20 degrees C from immediately after collection, in male Std ddY mice. Mice were separated into three groups with equal swimming capacity, and were administered royal jelly, royal jelly stored at 40 degrees C for 7 d (40-7d royal jelly), or the control solution including casein, cornstarch, and soybean oil before swimming. All mice were forced to swim for 15 min once; then the maximum swimming time to fatigue was measured after a rest period. The swimming endurance of the royal jelly group significantly increased compared with those of the other groups. The mice in the royal jelly group showed significantly decreased accumulation of serum lactate and serum ammonia and decreased depletion of muscle glycogen after swimming compared with the other groups, whereas there was no significant difference between the 40-7d RJ group and the control group in these parameters after swimming. A quantitative analysis of constituents in royal jelly showed that 5 7-kDa protein, which we previously identified as a possible freshness marker of royal jelly, was specifically degraded in royal jelly stored at 40 degrees C for 7 d, whereas the contents of various vitamins, 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid, and other fatty acids in RJ were unchanged. These findings suggest that royal jelly can ameliorate the physical fatigue after exercise, and this anti-fatigue effect of royal jelly in mice seems to be associated with the freshness of RJ, possibly with the content of 5 7-kDa protein.”
Many other similar studies have been undertaken in efforts to hone in on the benefits of royal jelly with a view to understanding them more fully and exploring ways in which they might be used to benefit human health. It should also be stated that bee pollen, a substance also found in the beehive, has a long association with increased energy and stamina in humans. It seems that each substance found in the hive plays a specific role as a natural health product and people buy bee products for their anti aging properties (royal Jelly) energy, stamina and weight loss properties (bee pollen) and anti viral / anti fungal properties (propolis). Honey and beeswax are also commonly used as nutritional aids with assumed health benefits.
But focusing on actual scientific data, there are few ‘facts’ that can be presented. Certainly the above study suggests potential benefits on energy levels and other studies have reported benefits on blood pressure and levels of cholesterol. But most of the other ‘claims’ as to the human beneficial side effects relate to studies on other products which share some vitamin or mineral similarity to royal jelly and/or bee pollen. For example, it is accepted that amino acids are a vital component of health and well being therefore many supplements make use of a high amino acid content, such as body building and training supplements. So in seeing that bee products also contain these amino acids, it becomes a natural step to assume the benefits widely associated with amino acid supplementation will also transpose to bee products.
Royal Jelly side effects
When we talk about side effects there’s obviously a negative connotation involved. In the case of royal jelly, certain negative side effects have been observed, including asthma cases. If we were to single out any ingested substance and ‘ban’ it based on known issues amongst a small number of users then clearly there wouldn’t be much available to choose from. So it’s important to keep cases of negative reaction and negative side affects of royal jelly in perspective by considering how many people have ingested a certain substance and how many have reacted in a negative way. What that parameter considered, it is generally thought that royal jelly and other beehive products are safe for human consumption. As always, certain individuals may be more susceptible to negative reaction and therefore should not take supplementation without the requisite level of medical intervention and supervision.
So what does all of that mean, where does it leave me, and should I bother to try these bee products for myself?
Certainly there are many natural health products on the market vying for your time, attention and money. So performing due diligence, undertaking research and making an informed decision is a vital part of your decision making process (or should be). That said, it’s easy to become misled by erroneous information and resources geared towards parting you with your hard earned money.
In the case of bee products, and in particular royal jelly, there’s a hot debate that you may encounter when doing your research pertaining to the benefits of fresh royal jelly versus freeze dried. Certain companies try to introduce a competitive angle by making claims about having a superior product when it is sold in fresh liquid form. The fact that these companies generally have a fresh liquid product which is shipped in a frozen state clearly indicates that they do not consider the fact the at some point during the cycle, royal jelly is going to be subjected to ‘cold’, as an issue. So it seems that they’re more concerned with remarking about the fact that water is removed from the fresh substance. Well, if the water is removed by a cold process, there really shouldn’t be anything to be concerned about when looking at the nutritional integrity of the remaining product. After all, cold processing is a widely used method of preserving freshness and integrity in the food industry. But for reasons which can only fall under ‘marketing’ these companies maintain the claims of superiority from their fresh liquid products. The irony is that in most cases their fresh liquid royal jelly will need to have been pasteurized in order for it to be shipped and handled safely without it spoiling. That’s not an opinion, it’s a requirement of the law. You can’t buy liquid food products without them having first been secured for safe consumption, with pasteurization being the preferred method of processing. Check the labels on your “Fresh – straight from Florida fruit juices” and you’ll see what I mean. There is no special dispensation for royal jelly or any other nutritional product.
So do your homework and use some common sense to cut through the hype.
Category: royal jelly |
New Article on Crop Pollination Published
Hey Folks,
Just a heads up on a new article for your pleasure, posted in the General Health Section!
It should be common knowledge these days that honey bees play a vital role in crop pollination. And we should all know by now that this essential player in the perpetuation of our food chain, the honey bee, is under threat.
Widespread use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers to increase crop yield are causing a serious problem with the bees. These chemicals are being absorbed by the honey bees and….read more here
Category: company info |
Capsaicin in Hot Chiles Beneficial to Health
As our readers surely know, at The Natural Shopper we’re committed to providing our customers with products we firmly believe will be beneficial to their wellbeing. As more people take vitamin supplements in an effort to stave off many common ailments and illnesses, I think it’s fair to say that we shouldn’t just depend on our 2 capsules of vitamins per day and expect them to compensate for all of the other toxins we feed into our body. So up springs the term “eat healthy” as the solution to all our problems. Well that’s great, but as many of us know in the real world, it isn’t always possible to avoid fast foods and processed foods 100% of the time. Plus, they sometimes taste good! Who’s going to give up their love for deep fried chicken, or hotdogs, in their quest to live longer and healthier? – well not everyone, that’s for sure. So the policy should be to treat food in the same way as our royal jelly supplements and to introduce daily “additives” into our diet that we know are good for us, and use them in quantities that can help offset the harm caused by the ingestion of processed foods. It’s kinda like a delicate balancing act, you shouldn’t have to cut out ‘bad for you’ foods altogether, you just need to introduce sufficient ‘good for you’ foods to try and create the right balance.
When we’re talking foods however we’re having to keep a close eye on quantity, as measured in calorific terms. If you could go out and eat a Big Mac, then counter the negative affect by consuming a couple pounds of fresh fruit and veggies, that would tip you well over the edge in terms of calorie intake, and you’d suffer from unwanted weight gain. So we need to look into the foods that give us some form of “accelerated” benefit, or “super foods” as they’re sometimes called. Also, we need to offset specific items such as sodium, which is generally a large and unwanted component of processed foods. So our super-foods need to be nutrient rich and low in sodium, fat, cholesterol and saturated fats. Also, and still on the issue of sodium intake, what if we could find a super-food which added flavor to our cooking to offset the need for added salt seasoning? Well this super-food does exist, and chefs and health food practitioners around the world are starting to incorporate this more and more into their cooking regimen, the item is “capsaicin” as found in hot chile peppers.
Hot chiles are becoming widely used in professional kitchens for removing blandness from foods, as a replacement for sodium . Chile peppers can give a real kick to many different types of foods and scientific studies are now finding many health benefits can be derived from eating the spicy chile (or often spelled ‘chili) peppers. The health component of chiles is capsaicin, and it’s also the heat component. It is found on the inside of the chile pepper in the white membrane. Nutritionally it is comprised of a number of components which include vitamin A, vitamin C, beta-carotene and other potent antioxidants. Hot peppers are low in fat, low in calories, and low in cholesterol. There are several popular pain relieving supplements on the market featuring capsaicin extract, which are widely thought to be very effective in relieving joint and muscle pains. Capsaicin is also shown to stimulate stomach secretions aiding digestion, and scientific studies are now showing that capsaicin may well assist in healing stomach tissues, whereas it was once thought to cause ulcers.
If you’re not sure what we’re talking about when we say “chile peppers”, then some of the more widely available and popular ones are -
Habanaro – small yellow/red pepper, with higher heat rating
Jalapeno – the ever popular ingredient in Tex-Mex food, can vary greatly in heat level
Poblano – Wonderfully flavorful with lower heat
Thai Pepper – red, small and packs a potent heat punch
Serrano – smaller green pepper with medium heat
And there are literally hundreds more to choose from.
We know a lot of our customers take royal jelly products and bee pollen in particular, for their appetite suppressing properties. Well recent research published in the British Journal of Nutrition showed that capsaicin also acts as an appetite suppressant, both during the meal in which the peppers were consumed and also in the hours following the meal.
Scientists have also discovered that the capsaicin in spicy foods kills cancer cells. The capsaicin causes cancer cell death by attacking mitochondria – which are the energy force within the harmful cells. This raises incredible possibilities in finding treatments for cancer. The study, conducted at the prestigious Nottingham University, was featured in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. It showed that the family of molecules to which capsaicin belongs, the vanilloids, bind to proteins in the cancer cell mitochondria to trigger apoptosis, or cell death, without harming surrounding healthy cells. Lead researcher Dr Timothy Bates said: “As these compounds attack the very heart of the tumour cells, we believe that we have in effect discovered a fundamental ‘Achilles heel’ for all cancers”. He said a dose of capsaicin that could cause a cancer cell to enter apoptosis, would not have the same effect on a normal cell. Capsaicin was tested on cultures of human lung cancer cells and on pancreatic cancers. In the same research, Dr Bates said: “Capsaicin, for example, is already found in treatments for muscle strain and psoriasis – which raises the question of whether an adapted topical treatment could be used to treat certain types of skin cancer. It’s also possible that cancer patients or those at risk of developing cancer could be advised to eat a diet which is richer in spicy foods to help treat or prevent the disease.”
So we’re starting to see some real evidence in support of the hot chile pepper in the field of medical research, and many of us who’ve consumed chiles in our diets for many years can already attest to their many health benefits.
And there’s other research which has yet to be further substantiated which suggests that capsaicin from hot sauces and chili peppers may reduce high blood pressure, increasing your metabolism, be effective as a pain reducer, reduce cholesterol and much more.
Obviously there are some practical issues. Mild peppers like the red, yellow, green bell peppers are obviously very nutritious and high in vitamins etc. But the benefits we’re talking about here come from the specific component “capsaicin”, which is also the heat component. So the more heat, the more capsaicin and the more potential benefit. But what if you don’t like the heat from chiles? Well, I don’t think you have many options. There are some capsaicin supplements available, but the simple fact is that they’ll bypass the mouth and head straight for the stomach. So you won’t have the mouth burn but if they truly do contain capsaicin in sufficient quantity to be useful to you, then you’re going to feel a digestive system impact that you might not be conditioned for.
My advice would be to start to condition your system and build a natural tolerance to the heat of the stronger chile peppers. This can be done surprisingly quickly in fact, perhaps in a matter of only a couple of weeks.
Start off incorporating some jalapenos into your diet, then move up to the serrano and eventually the habanero. Once you’ve mastered the habenero you can go on the the Bhut Jolokia which is an extremely hot pepper, high in capsaicin.
Combining these peppers with other foods, such as a sauce for example, will diminish the amount of heat that your mouth feels, but it won’t diminish your capsaicin intake. So try some sauce recipes and incorporate hot peppers into the recipe. A basic marinara sauce comes alive with the addition of a couple habanaros! You’d be surprised at just how flavorful and versatile the hotter peppers really are.
Personally I’ve been what’s kindly termed a “chilehead” for many years, I have a complete passion for researching, growing, and eating hot chiles since I was in my early 20′s. More recently I’ve developed several bottled sauces which feature the Habanero and the Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Chile) combined with powerful antioxidants like pineapple, pears, apple cider vinegar, mango and other fruits.
I’m slowly making these hot sauces available to the public as I get FDA regulations and other food handling processes and licenses in place. My first offering is a bottled hot sauce containing the Bhut Jolokia pepper with pears, applesauce and apple cider vinegar. It’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted, with a good kick of heat and packed with capsaicin.
If you want me to pass along a few sauce recipes which I’ve developed over the years, that are high in capsaicin and other beneficial nutrients, then just email me at carlh@netnet.net and I’d be happy to do so.
Otherwise, look out for my new hot sauce making its appearance on this website in a few days or so! Bookmark this page or follow us on Facebook and I’ll post an update as soon as it’s released.
Thanks for reading
CH
PS – unless you’re a pro, try to avoid bottled hot sauces containing “chile extract” or “capsaicin extract”, it’s generally unpleasant and way too hot for most.
Category: general info |
‘Other Ingredients’ in our bee product capsules
Excipients – Binders – Fillers
When you look at the product label on most vitamin supplements you’ll find a section labeled ‘Other Ingredients’. Generally these are not active ingredients but substances used to facilitate the manufacturing process and/or assist with product assimilation.
These ‘Other Ingredients’ generally fall into the category of ‘Binders’, ‘Excipients’ and ‘Fillers’.
What are excipients, binders, and fillers? Why are they necessary?
Excipients are inactive ingredients, usually odorless, tasteless, and colorless. They are necessary (not optional) during the manufacture of tablets and capsules (including softgels), to -
- Help with powder flow during encapsulation or tableting to prevent it from sticking to the processing equipment.
- Ensure even dispersal of raw materials in the capsule.
- Prevent crystallization of capsule active ingredients
- Help capsules dissolve in a timely manner and/or increase bioavailability and assimilation
- Ensure a consistent fill of the capsules (filler)
- Facilitate product use, such as enhancing the mixing capability of a powder
These are the functions of typical agents used in the capsulating process, there are also additional uses for tablet making which I won’t cover here, since we no longer use tablets for our royal jelly products.
We refer to these ‘other ingredients’ as ‘inactive’, versus the actual royal jelly/bee pollen/propolis/honey powders which are of course termed ‘active’. The use of inactive ingredients in the manufacturing process is essential in helping to deliver a product of consistent quality.
The inactive ingredients we use in our royal jelly capsules such as Total Bee Plus are -
Stearic Acid –
Stearic acid is used as a binder in our capsules. There are both animal or vegetable sources of stearic acid and we use only vegetable. It is found naturally in vegetable oils, cascarilla bark extract, and is used widely in the food industry. Many people see the words ‘stearic acid’ and assume that it’s some form of chemical additive, but it is not.
Does stearic acid interfere with the absorption of vitamins and minerals?
No it does not. In the miniscule levels used in capsule manufacturing it has no nutritional impact or affect on any other ingredient within the capsule. Remember that the tiny amount of stearic acid in a typical capsule is much less than what you’ll find in a salad with olive oil, which is a natural source of stearic acid.
Magnesium Stearate -
Again, this is a vegetable based substance made widely by hydrogenating cottonseed or palm oils. It is used throughout the supplements industry as lubricants in the capsulating process. Mag Stearate also slightly slows the digestive process, providing a natural ‘timed release’ component to the product, though this is very marginal.
Silica –
Silica is used in minute quantities to absorb moisture from the active ingredients and prevent caking. Silica is a natural mineral which is derived from sand and is used in its own right as a nutritional supplement. The tiny quantities we use do not really provide any nutritional benefits per se, the simply help maintain the integrity of the powder in the capsule.
Vegetable cellulose
Is a substance derived from various plant fibres and used as a filler in the production of capsules. Again this is a non nutritive substance used in small quantities to make up the difference between the weight of the active ingredients and the maximum capacity of the capsule. It’s good product design to create a formula and size it so that it fits into a specific capsule shell size without the requirement for excessive filler use.
Is a substance derived from various plant fibres and used as a filler in the production of capsules. Again this is a non nutritive substance used in small quantities to make up the difference between the weight of the active ingredients and the maximum capacity of the capsule. It’s good product design to create a formula and size it so that it fits into a specific capsule shell size without the requirement for excessive filler use.
Veggie Gelatin – the capsule shell –
Most products still use a bovine based Gelatin, we use vegetable based gelatin for our caps. We use a two-piece shell so that it can very easily be pulled-apart and the powder emptied into water or any cool drink. This seems to be favored by some people who have trouble swallowing the capsules whole.
Quality of the manufacturing process -
Regardless of the product formula, it is still essential to exercise skill and care during the manufacturing process to ensure a quality finished product. A reputable manufacturer of high quality nutritional supplements will perform a number of different tests before, during, and after the manufacturing process to ensure quality in the finished product, and should be able to provide you with documentation to support their processes upon request. The standards used by the most reputable companies are laid down by and referred to as ‘eGMP’.
Hope this helps with a better understanding of the processes and materials involved!
CH
Category: general info |
Manufacturing Process for Beehive Products Explained
I get asked quite frequently to explain the process for manufacturing bee products from start to finish. Many people ask to tour the facility to see the equipment in operation. So here’s a (not too detailed) explanation of how your favorite bee products come to be.
It all starts with extracting the raw ingredients from the beehive, and each of the four main ingredients requires a very different approach. Most people have seen the process for extracting honey, beeswax and bee pollen, where smoke is injected into the hive to reduce the activity of the bees during the extraction process. This allows the bee farmer to collect the ingredients with minimal opposition from its providers!
Honey – once collected it is simply filtered to remove debris and is then ready for further packaging or dehydration. If it’s to be converted into powder form for encapsulating then it’s subjected to a cold air process where the water content is removed, much like bee pollen and royal jelly.
Bee Pollen – again, the raw pollen granules are sifted to remove wings, plant life and other debris, then dehydrated through different stages. A low-level dehydration is required when the product is being packaged as granules, a higher level when making powder. It is important to use cold air evaporation and not subject the pollen to heat.
Royal Jelly – this can spoil very quickly so there’s a short time-frame to dehydrate the liquid via a cold air process called lyophilization. We cover this in various places around the website including here.
Propolis -provides a rich and beneficial source of bioflavonoids and is extracted using a food grade non alcohol compound or for tincture applications it can be extracted using a food grade alcohol base. This results in a very dark sticky substance which is then further processed to remove moisture, until it becomes a powder.
Once the various powders are created they are ground to produce finer particles prior to capsulation. After grinding, they have natural excipients added to prevent clogging and ease flow through in the capsulating process. If the powders are to be blended together, then the required quantities are measured and they are added to an industrial mixer to ensure a complete and even quantity of powders is present in each capsule.
The finished powder is then placed on the capsulating press where the powders are enclosed in a two piece shell.
After capsulation the finished capsules pass through the bottling machine, followed by labeling and external shrink-wrapping.
Samples are pulled from each stage of the process to run through the lab to ensure standards are adhered to. With both the incoming raw material and the final powder, we check for contaminants, potency and other tests to ensure the integrity of the final product.
Each batch is entered into the computer system along with its Certificate of Analysis and given a batch number which is truncated and printed on the bottle label or bottle base.
Simple!
CH
Category: bee products |
Lower than Wholesale pricing on four or more. Suggested Retail $39.95