By Dr. Michael L. Johnson, Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Have you heard about excipients in your nutritional supplements? If this is the first time you have come across the term, you need to know that “excipients” are used as fillers, glues, and binders. You can imagine them as a type of substance that is extremely toxic to your system.
Most people don’t really understand the consequences of excipients in “nutritional” products. They simply walk inside a store and buy a bottle of vitamins. Frankly, the bottles and boxes you get at big stores do not have any nutritional value so you’re only buying trash. Even some so called “good” nutrition companies use excipients and justify their stance because it is financially much more profitable.
Excipients are non-nutritive substances, that is to say, they have no nutritional value or justified use in “nutritional” products. If you test these substances, you will see that they are often toxic. If excipients are potentially toxic and have no value, why are they included in nutritional products?
In my opinion, the bottom line is money! By using excipients, nutritional manufacturers are going to increase their profit on every supplement that they sell using excipients. For example, tablets cannot be made without excipients because you need to include some kind of “glue” to keep the contents together. In my opinion, if you really want to stay healthy, avoid any nutritional products available in tablet form.
Here is a list of “problematic” substances is below, though there are many others not listed here. You will find these in most common nutritional products.
Magnesium stearate
is used as a lubricating agent, but studies reveal that its regular use compromises your immune system.
Methyl paraben
, one of the most famous members of the benzoate family, is widely known for its cancer-causing abilities.
Microcrystalline cellulose
is commonly used as cheap filler and has harmful effects on your body.
Silicon dioxide
, or common sand, is also used to enhance the flowing properties of nutritional substances in preparations, but you surely don’t want to eat and every day.
Methacrylic copolymer
showed teratogenic effects when tested on rat embryo cultures, meaning it has the potential to disturb the normal growth and development of a fetus.
Substances listed as “natural flavors” can actually be monosodium glutamate (MSG), known to produce neurotoxicity and harm your brain.
You may be tempted to take colorful nutritional products, but beware that the titanium dioxide used as a colorant is well known for its toxic effects on the liver.
Corn starch
, one of the most common examples of cheap excipients, can produce allergic responses in certain individuals. Unfortunately, you might be one of them.
Talcum powder
, or talc, is rarely listed on the excipients list, but it can contribute to the cause of cancer.
Other dubious substances commonly used to form tablets include D&C red #33, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, polyethylene glycol, propylparaben, methyl p-hydroxybenzoate, sodium acetate, hydroxypropyl cellulose, sodium metabisulfite, and Eudragit. All of these are hazardous and can put your life at risk.
You really need to avoid all poor nutritional supplements, especially those that are available in your local grocer, pharmacy, or big box store. Most of these brands contain dangerous solvents that bind the actual vitamin, such as vitamin D that has been solvent-extracted from sheep’s wool or B-vitamins derived from coal tar.
The list of excipients goes on and on, and you can find detailed information about all these substances on our website, www.youcanbeatthyroiddisorders.com.
Do these chemicals still sound complicated? Just stop eating excipients and your job is done!
The fact is that you shouldn’t be using products that contain excipients. You can find a long list of nutritional products that help your body heal in all of my books which are available for free at www.askdrjohnson.com.
I am amazed that there are nutrition companies that are now actually attempting to justify the use of excipients in their products. In my opinion, there is NO REASON to ever use an excipient in any nutritional product and I would NEVER take any nutritional product if it contained any excipient!
This is why I only work with nutritional companies that do not use excipients in my office!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Michael L. Johnson is a Board-Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and has been in private practice in Appleton, WI since 1983. He is the author of seven books which can be found at www.askdrjohnson.com. Dr. Johnson’s latest book, “You Can Beat Thyroid Disorders Naturally” is available at www.drjthyroidbook.com and his YouTube channel with over 90,000 views on his thyroid video alone are “Dr. Michael Johnson.” Dr. Johnson is available for questions at [email protected].
© 2014 Dr. Michael L. Johnson
