10 replies to this topic

[boilerroom]

I recently purchased Jarrow Formulas, Green Tea 5:1, 500 mg, 100 Capsules ( http://www.iherb.com...c...id=132&at=0 ) .

What is each capsules' equivalency to cups of green tea? Is one capsule equal to one cup of tea??

Been having a hard time trying to down 5+ cups of green tea a day without supplement help.

[wayside]

One cup of green tea contains 200-300 mgs of catechins, of which half is EGCG, but it can vary a lot based on the quality of the tea and how long you steep it. The supplement you purchased, which is 30% catechins and 500 mg per cap, means each cap is around 1 cup of green tea.

There are higher potency caps available. This one looks like it is equivalent to 3 cups or so. There are even higher ones, such as AOR EGCG MAX.

Edited by wayside, 05 December 2008 - 09:45 PM.

[nameless]

Is it better to take capsules with smaller doses, or one capsule with a big dose? People who drink tea probably don't guzzle 5-10 cups all at one time, so I'm wondering if it's better to spread the dosage out over the course of a the day (2-3 caps, etc).

And does anyone know if the supplement form of green tea contains any fluoride at all? I know normal green tea does, but is it removed somehow in extracts?

[madbrain]

Is it better to take capsules with smaller doses, or one capsule with a big dose? People who drink tea probably don't guzzle 5-10 cups all at one time, so I'm wondering if it's better to spread the dosage out over the course of a the day (2-3 caps, etc).

And does anyone know if the supplement form of green tea contains any fluoride at all? I know normal green tea does, but is it removed somehow in extracts?

I have been taking this one for about a year : http://www.iherb.com...px?c=1&pid=1105
I take one cap in the morning and one in the evening.

The manufacturer says each cap it's equivalent to 2-3 cups of green tea, and suggests 1 cap 1 to 2 times a day with meals.

I'm not sure about the fluoride question.

[niner]

And does anyone know if the supplement form of green tea contains any fluoride at all? I know normal green tea does, but is it removed somehow in extracts?

The polyphenols are organic chemicals that are a lot less polar than water, while the fluoride is an ionic salt that is very soluble in water. The tea is probably extracted with a solvent of medium-to-lowish polarity, in which case little if any fluoride should end up in the final product. I wouldn't expect to find much fluoride in the caps, although there are lots of different ways to do the extraction so I couldn't guarantee anything.

[nameless]

In case anyone was curious about fluoride content, I contacted Now and DSM about the fluoride contents of their green tea products. Their responses:

Now Foods: In our EGCG, flouride analysis shows less than 13mcg per capsule and the
regular Green Tea capsules are 98 mcg.

Seems like pretty low amounts to me, but would that amount be okay for people with thyroid problems?

DSM (Teavigo): No fluoride.

Both products are derived from China, and neither are organic. Now Foods stated they used third party analysis of their product, but when I asked for a COA, they stated they don't sent them out. I expect the Now products are probably perfectly fine, but I find it odd they won't provide customers with a copy of their COA.

Anyone happen to know of a green tea extract not derived from China, organic, and caffeine and fluoride free?

Edited by nameless, 15 December 2008 - 07:16 PM.

[ajnast4r]

Now Foods stated they used third party analysis of their product, but when I asked for a COA, they stated they don't sent them out. I expect the Now products are probably perfectly fine, but I find it odd they won't provide customers with a copy of their COA.

thats pretty odd...i bet if you pressed a little harder they would cough it up

[nameless]

Now Foods stated they used third party analysis of their product, but when I asked for a COA, they stated they don't sent them out. I expect the Now products are probably perfectly fine, but I find it odd they won't provide customers with a copy of their COA.

thats pretty odd...i bet if you pressed a little harder they would cough it up

I already emailed them twice, asking if they could send me a COA.

This is their first response:

We are very pleased with the quality of our EGCG & Green Tea products
though we do not send out Certificates of Analysis. Tested for a variety
of impurities such as heavy metals and pesticides the latter of which
must be undetectable down to the parts per billion level.


I emailed them again, asking if they could send me the COA, but no response yet. Perhaps they'll eventually send it, but they certainly don't seem so eager to.

[pycnogenol]

thats pretty odd...i bet if you pressed a little harder they would cough it up

No, they won't; I wasted at least half a day trying to get a CoA out of them last year. They purposely and intentionally give people the run-a-round.
Their tactics work because even I finally gave up and I'm real tenacious about getting information. But, hey, you can try if you think you can get
them to cough it up. Oh, and they don't like giving their name out or job title either via email or on the telephone. They want you to buy their products
and not ask questions.

Edited by pycnogenol, 16 December 2008 - 12:30 AM.

[hamishm00]

In some sense can understand why they don't give COAs out, because it could be used as marketing fodder by rival companies against them, or even it might mean that the person they send it to keeps asking questions, and will request more info on other products as time goes by - this is a cost they would rather avoid, so they just make a policy. Problem solved.

[pycnogenol]

In some sense can understand why they don't give COAs out, because it could be used as marketing fodder by rival companies against them, or even it might mean that the person
they send it to keeps asking questions, and will request more info on other products as time goes by - this is a cost they would rather avoid, so they just make a policy. Problem solved.

Perhaps that is the case. Who really knows. I wish Now Foods would do what rival company Nature's Plus does which is put a CoA insert in with every bottle of their supplements.

I talked to someone a Now Foods last year about putting CoA inserts in with their products and he said they were thinking about it. So far, nothing.

Pete at Relentless Improvement puts up CoA's on his website which is very helpful to me. He's a class act all the way. The "big guys" could learn a thing or two from his business model.

Edited by pycnogenol, 17 December 2008 - 04:33 PM.