More misinformation on the internet...

From time to time some companies and individuals choose to distribute nonsense material on the internet under the guise of ‘safety information’.  It tends to be the same old distorted stuff designed to scare people into buying their particular product.

One of these which we have had seen before has just surfaced again as a result of a ‘newsletter’ sent by a company called Quantum Nutrition.  This time the bogeyman’ is magnesium stearate which is an excipient commonly used in supplements and drugs alike. 

These people are quoting various studies completely out of context and trying to use it to discredit the use of magnesium stearate in supplements, and pharmaceuticals.  What they are conveniently neglecting to say is that stearates are essential to our health and are present in substantial quantities in the foods we eat every day, and that every day we ingest much greater quantities of magnesium stearate than you will ever get in a supplement.  This applies even if you eat an optimal diet.

So, why are there any negative studies about it?  Well this is because you could take almost any substance, isolate it so it is not in a natural form and feed it direct to cells in quantities which never happens in real life.  When you cdo this you can be pretty well assured of a negative result.  You can even get a dangerous result with water if you follow this principle.

Anyway, here is the question which prompted this post, and below this are some comments from Trevor Lyttle our Quality Assurance Manager.  Hope you find them enlightening.

Question: from Clare

Warren we find you one of the most credible authorities around (simle) - honestly. So would you please advise us if the following information is correct? I find that the 'stearate and stearic acid' are ingredients in most vitamins and mineral supplements and some prescription drugs also.
 
Thanks heaps
 

HEALTH WARNING!
The Truth About Vitamin Supplements
from: Quantum Nutrition

Check your vitamin labels. Do they contain Magnesium Stearate or Stearic Acid? Studies by the University of Texas Health Science Center and the East Carolina University School of Medicine reveal that these toxic excipients cause a rapid collapse of T-cell membrane function and cell death; therefore suppressing the immune system. (Immunology, 1990, Jul.)
It is estimated that 90% of the vitamin and mineral products consumed today contain stearates. Stearates are used as binders in tablets and in the processing of gelatin capsules. Consumers often take handfuls of capsules and tablets to get vitamins, minerals and other key nutrients from supplements that contain stearates, and instead, in reality, get a powerful immune suppressive treatment.

For more information on this topic and copies of the above-quoted studies as well as other studies and warnings concerning stearates, contact us at service@qnlabs.com.

Response: from Trevor

This one does the rounds every few years.  Like all the others I consider it a load of horse *****.

Below I have pasted the text of an email I sent to a customer who was asking about stearic acid and cancer, but the arguments are relevant.  The major points are 2), 3), and 4).

“I too have heard the stories and read innumerable websites claiming that magnesium stearate/stearic acid promotes/causes cancer. 

Let me point out a few facts.  Firstly, just about anything can be shown to cause cancer when studied under the right conditions and with the correct dose of preconceptions.  I have even read a paper that says ordinary water can cause cancer!!

2)  Stearic acid is one of the most common long chain fatty acids found in animal and vegetable fats.  It is a normal component in almost every plant on the face of the planet.  Simply by eating plants we ingest fairly substantial quantities of stearic acid every day.

3)  Long chain fatty acids such as stearic acid are actually required by the body for a range of uses such as hormones, cell membranes, stabilisation of proteins and signalling processes as well as a source of energy.  Even the FDA and other regulatory agencies recommend that up to 30% of the energy requirements of the body be provided by fats, including saturated fats such as stearic acid.

4) A full daily dose of Total Balance Women’s Premium contains 50mg of magnesium stearate (this is simply the salt form of stearic acid).  This provides 0.45kcal of energy which is 0.075% of the daily energy requirements of a healthy individual.  Basically, the quantity ingested in our supplements is negligible in comparison to the ordinary daily intake.

Lastly, far from being a source of cancer there is a substantial body of evidence that stearic acid actually helps to prevent cancer.  Below I have listed 4 URLs.  These all link to published papers or well-founded websites showing that stearic acid helps to prevent cancer.  I have deliberately chosen them from a variety of places to demonstrate that the evidence is quite broadly based and that the effect is not limited to 1 or 2 types of cancer.  I could easily have listed several dozen links with the same theme.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10521790&dopt=Abstract

www.prostatecancersupport.co.uk/therapies.htm

www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0887/is_n11-12_v12/ai_14732919

http://www1.umn.edu/systemwide/enews/100302.html

Remember too that many cancer drugs contain magnesium stearate.  Where would the logic be in that?