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For Inquiring Minds, the following New Chapter
article provides a more scientific, in-depth description of how the
Supercritical Extraction process works.
“This advanced extraction process yields a superior herbal extract
that is highly concentrated...”
By now everyone has heard about plant “polyphenols” and essential
oils, and people just assume that when they take an herb they are
getting all of the herb’s beneficial constituents. People also assume
that herbal extracts are pretty much the same, like bottled water or
jars of applesauce. Maybe, people think, there could be some slight
flavor variations, but water is generally water and applesauce is
applesauce. But these are profoundly incorrect assumptions for
traditional herbs, for the beneficial effects of an herbal extract
depend on a number of important and precise factors, starting with the
quality of the fresh botanical ingredient.
Some fresh ginger, for example, is rather bland,
while other rhizomes just explode with pungent compounds and
proteolytic enzymes. A great extract thus starts with great fresh
herbs, but it doesn’t end there, no more than a fine wine starts and
ends with the grape. After all, there are different growers, different
fermenting processes, different alcohol levels, and vastly different
tastes. These differences make a huge difference in wine, and they
make an even bigger difference in botanical extracts used in
traditional medicine.
New Chapter deeply respects the importance of the herb and of
the extraction process. We have developed a unique, patent-pending
line of the finest botanical formulations available, and these
therapeutic formulations all feature what scientists call the
“supercritical” extraction process. This advanced extraction process
yields a superior herbal extract that is highly concentrated, as much
as 250 pounds of fresh herb reducing to just one pound of
supercritical extract. In addition, the supercritical process does not
use any chemical solvents at all, so the resulting extract is
absolutely free of chemical solvents such as hexane or acetone. The
supercritical process also produces an extremely broad representation
of the herb’s lipophilic (oils, fatty acids, etc.) constituents.
Those lipophilic constituents are often some of the
most precious and necessary plant ingredients in such important herbs
as ginger, St. John’s Wort, evening primrose, saw palmetto, kava,
valerian, rosemary, and many others. In the past these herbs were
commonly extracted by the use of chemical solvents. Not so with
supercritical extraction. New Chapter’s supercritical extracts are
super potent, super pure, and broad spectrum with a representative
composition very near to the botanical raw material. These are the
hallmarks of New Chapter’s supercritical extraction.
The supercritical process is extraordinarily complex
and high-tech, but at its core we think it is rather easy to
understand. Here is a short “botany” lesson: there are two major
groupings of phytochemicals or plant constituents that are generally
extracted. One type of plant constituent “likes” water, and is thus
willing to be dissolved in water (like in making a tea, which is
simply a hot water extract) or a related solution like ethanol. The
other type of plant constituent “dislikes” water, avoids it totally
(like oil and water!), and is thus unwilling to be dissolved in it.
These water-avoiding constituents are fatty or oily in nature, and
they are willing to dissolve only in “lipophilic” or fat-loving
solutions. To extract an “oily” constituent, people conventionally
either dissolved the herb in a chemical solvent or heated the herb to
beyond boiling, evaporating out the water-based ingredients. That is
the sum and substance of conventional extraction: a water-loving
constituent either can be dissolved in a water or alcohol solution, or
it is fatty or oily and needs to be dissolved in a different manner.
We should note that some lipophilic substances can be extracted with
ethanol, but it is not the preferred extraction method for those
substances.
The conventional ways were generally acceptable, if
done well by caring extractors with premier ingredients, so long as
the constituent to be extracted was “water loving.” There are some
serious problems, however, with conventional, non-supercritical,
“lipophilic” extraction. Most importantly, the chemical solvents often
used for such “conventional” extraction can be rather nasty. If you
have a grease stain on your clothing, that greasy stain is “lipophilic,”
and a good dry cleaning solvent like hexane can extract the grease.
Water won’t work, because the grease repels the water. Using a dry
cleaning solvent is perhaps acceptable for dry cleaning, although it
is obviously not the best for our environment. What is clear, however,
is that we don’t want to be eating dry cleaning solvents. If those
chemical solvents are used for conventional herbal extraction, one of
four unacceptable things may occur: First, there could be some residue
of the chemical solvent. Second, to try to get rid of the chemical
residue, the extract is often heated to high enough temperatures to
break down the solvent. Third, the solvent interacts with the plant
constituents and can distort them. For example, when chemical solvents
are used to make a ginger extract, the solvents interact with the
important “gingerol” constituents and can degrade some into less
desirable “shogaols.” Fourth, the lipophilic constituents can be
highly unstable when extracted with chemical solvents. For example,
the principal active constituents of St. John’s Wort, which are the
hyperforins that promote emotional balance, are highly unstable if
conventionally extracted. To illustrate what “highly unstable” means,
think of it as purchasing a shiny new car, but by the time you get it
home the metal has turned to rust. When the hyperforins “rust,” their
value is lost to us.
The conventional process, then, creates a lipophilic
extract that often
1. has some chemical solvent residue,
2. has been temperature stressed,
3. can distort or alter the nature of the delicate plant constituents,
or
4. can create an extract that is biologically unstable.
The supercritical process does not present any of
these issues. Rather than using a chemical solvent as the “dissolving
fluid,” the supercritical process uses compressed carbon dioxide, or
CO2. That is simply one of the constituents of normal air, and we
breathe it and plants absorb it every moment. To get the CO2 to
dissolve the lipophilic constituents, scientists determined that the
gas would extract those substances if the gas was highly compressed.
We mean very, very compressed, such as 200 to 500 times the pressure
of the atmosphere at sea level. Normally, if you compress a gas to
that extent it would turn to a liquid, but the liquid form of gases do
not “penetrate” or dissolve as well, and thus is not the best
substance for dissolving the plant oils and other lipophilic
substances. Here is where the term “critical” comes in. The “critical”
point of a gas is that temperature point over which the gas will
maintain its gaseous state and not turn to a liquid. In the case of
CO2, the critical point is 31 degrees centigrade, which is not that
high. If the CO2 gas is heated up to any temperature over 31 degrees C
(which would be over, or “super” the “critical” point), then it will
not turn to a liquid no matter what the pressure. Scientists use CO2
gas for this purpose because it is totally harmless (even when
compressed) to humans and the environment, it is naturally occurring,
and its “supercritical” temperature point is very low.
The supercritical process, then, uses a harmless,
natural gas, heats it to some temperature over 31 degrees C (the lower
the better to avoid any temperature stress), and the gas is then
highly compressed. The compressed gas has the density of a liquid, but
is able to penetrate deeply into the plant and dissolve the lipophilic
constituents. Then the pressure is carefully released, the gas just
harmlessly dissipates into the atmosphere, and all that is left behind
is the pure, concentrated extract. No pollution, no heat stress or
damage, and no solvent residue. The extract, if done by a fine
laboratory or facility, can be a broad, virtually complete
representation of the plant’s lipophilic constituents.
Not every herb or plant constituent is suitable for
supercritical extraction, but for those that are it clearly yields the
most concentrated, broad-spectrum, and pure extract possible. For some
herbal constituents, like for certain phytochemicals in green tea, a
water extract is preferred.
Other herbs or constituents require an ethanolic
extraction, which is not a chemical solvent and if used properly can
be a valuable adjunct to other extraction processes. We at New Chapter
are familiar with all of these extraction methods, and we know how to
take advantage of the multiple processes to create an extract that
will have the desired broad-spectrum constituents delivered in the
purest fashion. Our Supercritical Therapy line of products is
patent-pending and often uses both supercritical and other extraction
processes on the same herb, which we call a “Dual Extract.” Our
Supercritical Therapy products thus represent not only the finest
formulas and ingredients, but also extraction methodologies based on
the unsurpassed values of a supercritical extract.
For more information about New Chapter, click here.
*This statement has not been evaluated by the
Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to
diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. |
