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The Informant

The Informant
The identity of the informant can't be revealed. He works in the supplement industry and he's here to blow the whistle on supplement corruption!
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What Is Stearic Acid?

What’s stearic acid, and why is it used in supplements? Does it interfere with the absorption of vitamins?

Stearic acid is an essential saturated fat found in all vegetable, seed, nut, and animal oils. In fact, olive oil is a natural source of stearic acid, and so is milk! The most common source in better quality nutritional supplements is vegetable stearic acid. Tablet manufacturing requires certain substances such as stearic acid to act as what we call “flowing agents.” They help powders flow smoothly through the machines and help the tablet’s ingredients stick together and bind in their eventual shape.

Stearic acid is ideal because of its natural source. It doesn't interfere with the proper utilization or absorption of the active ingredients in the tablet. There’s no evidence that stearic acid, in the amounts used in tablets, interferes with the absorption or utilization of nutrients.