Why is magnesium stearate in your supplements, and is it safe?

Magnesium Stearate

As I walk down the isle of my local supermarket I take a look around and people doing their weekly food shop seem far more switched on as to what additives are best avoided and savvy shoppers (like my wife) take great delight reading food labels to make sure there are no added nastiness.

But what about supplements? We are good at checking food labels but do you check your supplement labels and do you know what to look out for or what to avoid?

All tablets and the majority of capsule medicines and supplements contain excipients. These are the non active ingredients with no nutritional value. They include fillers, diluents, binders, disintegrants, antifrictional agents.

The most commonly used excipinet is magnesium stearate, used in over 90% of supplements worldwide. More and more people are finding out for themselves about magnesium stearate. There are now a growing number of supplement companies around the world pushing forward, making supplements without magnesium stearate and Health Leads UK Ltd is leading the way in the UK.

So why don't we use excipients like magnesium stearate in our supplements? We believe that magnesium stearate could have detrimental effects, toxicity and reduced bioavailability. To find out more please have a look at our article, is magnesium stearate safe to use as a supplement excipient?