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When people think about dietary supplements, the focus is often on the active ingredients like vitamins, minerals, herbs, or amino acids. However, behind the scenes, there are many additional ingredients that play a critical role in how these products are formulated and delivered to your body. These are known as excipients, and while they may be considered "inactive," their importance cannot be overstated.
In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at what excipients are, their functions, and why they’re essential in the dietary supplement products we create here at Wilverra Limited.
What Are Excipients?
Excipients are substances added to supplements (and medications) that have no direct therapeutic effect but serve various essential purposes in the production, stability, and efficacy of the product. These ingredients help ensure that the supplement is properly absorbed by the body, remains stable over time, and is easy to manufacture. They also make the product more appealing and user-friendly, whether that means improving its taste, texture, or appearance.
Common Functions of Excipients
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Binders
Binders help hold the ingredients of a tablet together, ensuring that it maintains its shape and doesn’t crumble. Without binders, supplements would fall apart in the bottle or during handling.
Examples: Microcrystalline cellulose, gelatin
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Fillers (Diluents)
Active ingredients in supplements are often measured in small amounts. Fillers increase the volume of the product to make it easier to handle and manufacture, ensuring that each capsule or tablet has a consistent size and shape.
Examples: Lactose, maltodextrin, calcium carbonate
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Disintegrants
Once you ingest a tablet, disintegrants help it break down in your digestive system. This process allows the active ingredients to dissolve quickly and be absorbed into your bloodstream, ensuring they work effectively.
Examples: Starch, croscarmellose sodium
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Lubricants
Lubricants prevent the ingredients from sticking to the machinery during the manufacturing process. Without them, production could become inefficient and inconsistent, making it difficult to ensure uniform quality across every tablet or capsule.
Examples: Magnesium stearate, stearic acid
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Coatings
Coatings serve multiple purposes. They protect the active ingredients from light, moisture, and air, enhancing the product's shelf life. In some cases, coatings also control where in the digestive tract the supplement is absorbed (e.g., delayed-release formulations).
Examples: Hypromellose (HPMC), shellac, and gelatin
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Preservatives
To ensure that supplements maintain their efficacy over time, preservatives are added to prevent the growth of microorganisms or the breakdown of active ingredients.
Examples: Sodium benzoate, citric acid
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Colorants
Colorants are added to enhance the appearance of a supplement. They help make the product look more appealing and can be used to differentiate between different types of supplements.
Examples: Titanium dioxide (for white), iron oxides (for reds and yellows)
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Flavoring Agents
Particularly in chewable supplements or liquid formulations, flavoring agents are essential for masking the sometimes unpleasant taste of the active ingredients.
Examples: Natural or artificial flavors, sweeteners like sucralose or stevia
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Stabilizers
Stabilizers help maintain the physical and chemical integrity of the product. They prevent ingredients from clumping together or reacting with each other, ensuring that the product remains effective throughout its shelf life.
Examples: Silicon dioxide, calcium phosphate
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Glidants
Glidants reduce friction between particles during the manufacturing process, ensuring that powders or granules flow smoothly. This helps ensure uniformity in dosage from one tablet to the next.
Examples: Talc, colloidal silicon dioxide
Why Are Excipients Important?
At first glance, it may seem like excipients are just “filler” ingredients, but their role is crucial in ensuring that supplements perform as intended. Here’s why:
- Improved Stability: Excipients protect active ingredients from environmental factors like heat, moisture, and light, which could cause degradation and reduce their effectiveness.
- Enhanced Absorption: Disintegrants and coatings ensure that the active ingredients are released at the right time and absorbed efficiently in the body.
- Streamlined Manufacturing: Lubricants, binders, and glidants make the production process smoother and more consistent, reducing manufacturing errors and ensuring that each batch is of high quality.
- Better User Experience: Flavoring agents and coatings make supplements more palatable and easier to swallow, which improves compliance (i.e., how likely someone is to take their supplement as directed).
Are Excipients Safe?
Content Credentials
Natural medicine and nutritional supplements date back to ancient times. Egyptians, for example, consumed garlic and honey for their alleged curative properties, while Chinese traditional medicine utilized herbal extracts like ginseng and goji berries to attain longevity and vigor. Ayurvedic medicine in India employed ashwagandha and turmeric to align the body's energies and improve well-being.
However, it’s worth noting that some individuals may have sensitivities or allergies to certain excipients. For instance, people who are lactose intolerant may want to avoid supplements that use lactose as a filler. Similarly, individuals with gluten sensitivities should check for gluten-free labels, as some excipients can contain traces of gluten.
Final Thoughts
While excipients are often overlooked, they play an essential role in the quality, effectiveness, and usability of dietary supplements. They help ensure that the supplement delivers its benefits in a reliable and consistent way while protecting the active ingredients and making the product more user-friendly.
When choosing a supplement, it’s always a good idea to read the label and be aware of both the active and inactive ingredients, especially if you have specific allergies or dietary restrictions. Ultimately, excipients help make supplements not just functional but also practical and enjoyable to use.
At Wilverra Limited, we hope that by understanding the purpose of excipients, you can make more informed decisions about what to include in the supplements you are creating for your customers.