Quality, Purity & Efficacy

What does Life Extension do to ensure the quality of its products?

We focus on two specific areas.

• Raw Materials: Unlike other supplement companies, the ingredients that go into our supplements are not chosen based on cost. Instead they are chosen based on purity (to ensure contaminants such as microbes and heavy metals comply with regulatory and GMPs requirements), potency, and usage in successful scientific research.
• Validation of the Efficacy of Ingredients by Scientific Research: We use ingredients and dosages that accurately replicate the most successful results obtained in scientific studies for maximum efficacy.

Do your products adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices?

Our commitment to quality and safety have earned us GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) registration from NSF International, an organization that independently registers manufacturers as meeting GMP requirements. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) are guidelines that provide a system of processes, procedures and documentation to assure a product has the identity, strength, composition, quality and purity that appear on its label. These GMP requirements are listed in Section 8 of NSF/ANSI 173 the American National Standard in the dietary supplement industry developed in accordance with the FDA’s 21 CFR part 111. NSF GMP registration verifies that the facility is audited twice annually for quality and safety in compliance with Federal Regulations for dietary supplements good manufacturing practices, including:

• Audits of all production facilities that manufacture, package, warehouse or distribute dietary supplements or functional foods
• Review of quality control testing procedures for raw materials and finished products
• Review of maintenance, housekeeping, cleaning and sanitization procedures
• Review of sourcing and traceability procedures
• Review of training and qualification programs
• Review of internal SOPs
• Product Recall Procedures

Does the label accurately list exactly what’s in the bottle?

Yes. All active ingredients from patented, scientifically validated raw materials as well as final, finished products are verified using advanced analytical methods such as HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography), MS (mass spectrometry), etc., to ensure each and every product accurately meets label claims in strict compliance with our demanding product specifications.

When it comes to supplements, is cost an indicator of quality?

Where Life Extension is concerned, yes. Patented materials validated in scientific studies cost more — period. In contrast with many commercial brands focused on driving up margins by using the cheapest raw materials available, Life Extension collaborates with raw material suppliers who invest in scientific validation of their ingredients, which increases material costs. With Life Extension products, you get the quality you pay for.

What are the “Other Ingredients” on the label, and why are they important?

They are inactive ingredients (excipients) that play a number of critical, essential roles in the manufacturing process including:

• Achieving uniform density for accurate dosing
• Dispersing the active ingredients evenly throughout a solid tablet, capsule, and softgel
• Protecting active ingredients from rapid inactivation due to heat and moisture
• Promoting tablet disintegration, as well as capsule and softgel dissolution
• Sustaining the release of active ingredients into the body over time

Why do some companies refer to these excipients as a threat to your health?

Claiming any product is “pure and free of excipients” can be deceptive advertising, too frequently used to draw attention away from inferior active ingredients! The right inactive ingredients used in the right way do important things … like ensuring that a tablet disintegrates in your GI tract rather than just passing through your system without benefit, or keeping a product from breaking down and being susceptible to microbes. Take Life Extension blueberry extract, for example. It contains AuroraBlue^® wild-harvested, Alaskan blueberries. To retain their nutritional complexity, these berries are freeze-dried and carefully milled for capsule formulation. But being a whole fruit raw material, it tends to want to reconstitute itself with moisture, which would make it a breeding ground for bacteria. So Life Extension uses a drying excipient to keep the milled blueberry material dry, so it can safely deliver its superior nutritional value compared with other, less costly blueberry extracts in most commercial formulations.

All of the excipients Life Extension uses have earned GRAS (“Generally Recognized As Safe”) status … and are used sparingly. In many cases not using them would compromise final product quality! Excipients are used in nutritional supplements to ensure uniform density of complex active materials, to achieve even dispersion of active ingredients, and to promote appropriate disintegration and/or dissolution of active ingredients inside your body … to name but a few of the critical roles played by excipients.

Should I be concerned about the use of stearic acid?

Stearic acid functions as a flow agent in the manufacture of quality products, and stearic acid also occurs naturally in the foods you eat. For example:

• Four ounces of dark chocolate contain 3,625 mg of stearic acid
• One cup of kidney beans contains 1,655 mg of stearic acid
• An ounce of raw ground beef (grass-fed) contains 2,063 mg of stearic acid
• A half-pound of lean raw turkey contains 1,642 mg of stearic acid
• Even a tablespoon of allspice contains 1,513 mg of stearic acid

Our supplements, on the other hand, typically contain no more than 10 mg per capsule. We always use the lowest level of stearic acid possible.

Should I be concerned that products with soybean oil or lecithin are a hidden source of phytoestrogens?

While it is true that soy isoflavones are phytoestrogens, the amount of phytoestrogens in soybean oil or soy lecithin is so minute, the USDA lists it in foods as having zero value for isoflavones.

What is Life Extension’s Position on GMO?

In response to customer inquiries regarding GMO, Life Extension launched a major initiative to affirm the non-GMO status of its products. As a result, hundreds of products were carefully evaluated and the vast majority of Life Extension’s 400+ product line are self-affirmed as non-GMO. The detailed investigation includes rigorous documentation analysis for all active ingredients as well as inactive ingredients such as excipients. Expensive GMO testing is also used as part of the investigation. If a product is LE Certified as non-GMO you will see it indicated on the product label and website product description. You are always welcome to contact us if you have a question about a specific product.

Does the gelatin used in softgels and capsules contain MSG?

Gelatin does not contain MSG … but does contain about 0.03 grams of glutamic acid in one softgel. To put this small amount in perspective, a person ingests about 120 times more glutamic acid in a serving of asparagus, cabbage or tomatoes!

What’s the difference between tablets, capsules and softgels?

Sophisticated products require sophisticated delivery systems. The best companies choose the most effective finished form based on the characteristics of the raw materials, and the desired disintegration or dissolution characteristics of the finished product and the active ingredients.

Why aren’t Life Extension products organic?

The word “organic” conveys the perception of quality to consumers. But it actually relates to foods that are grown rather than products that are formulated. Many of our scientifically validated raw materials are not produced organically. Rather, our mandate includes rigorous testing and scrupulous processing. The objective is purity … both in terms of our raw materials and our finished products.

How do you define "vegetarian" when describing your products?

Products that are labeled "vegetarian" do not contain any ingredients that are products or by-products of harvested animals. However, our vegetarian products may include ingredients derived from live animals or their work byproduct, such as eggs, dairy, beeswax, etc.

Other product questions or concerns?
Call a Life Extension Wellness Specialist at 1-800-226-2370 for the answers you need.

I see the bottles are translucent, will that affect the integrity of the products?

No. There will not be any product integrity issues associated with our new translucent bottles. In fact, bottles like these are fairly common in the industry. Plus, they are recyclable. Please recycle.