HYPROMELLOSE gelatin caps
The packaging on the bottle is now squared shaped, and the ingredients are different from what is advertised. This new formula uses HYPROMELLOSE in the gelatin caps......Hypromellose is short for Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (HPMC). What is HPMC? According to Pharmabiz, HPMC is a cellulose ether, prepared from alkali treated cellulose that is reacted with methyl chloride and propylene oxide. HPMC is a propylene glycol ether of methylcellulose. And from Food-Info, Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose is prepared from cellulose, the main polysaccharide and constituent of wood and all plant structures. Commercially prepared from wood and chemically modified. In other words, it's a synthetic version of gelatin derived from cellulose made from plant fibers such as wood from tree trunks that's been extracted and then treated with various chemicals throughout the production process to make a polymer. The resulting HPMC is then mixed with water to form the vegetarian capsule material. Hypromellose is listed as E464 in the Codex Alimentarius under carbon-based substances, and the FDA has determined it GRAS (generally recognized as safe). This basically means HPMC isn't required to be adequately studied for proof of safety. In fact, testing of DOW's HPMC product Methocel appears to allow for the presence of up to 20 ppm total heavy metals and 2 ppm lead. It seems that HPMC vegetarian capsules are more of a plastic than anything, and we're very concerned with the possibility that questionable food additives may be added to the capsule formulations (see Food Additives below), not to mention the chemicals used to produce HPMC itself. The following list is in no way exhaustive, but represents the results of our research into certain brands of empty vegetarian capsules. Most of these companies are retailers, not manufacturers and thus have no say as to the ingredients, however, we can encourage them to offer only additive-free capsules
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