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We are often asked why we don’t have our name on a line of products, like many health food stores, online retailers, pharmacies, grocery stores, doctors' offices, and websites do. The answer is transparency. We believe that the company that makes your supplements and the ingredients that go into them should not be hidden from you. What are private label supplements? Private label (also known as white label) is a process where one manufacturer produces the same product for multiple stores or companies, which then apply their own labels and branding to the product. This is very different from custom-formulating or making a unique product. Nearly all (>95%) store-brand supplements (found in grocery stores, online retailers, pharmacies, and doctors' offices, among other places) are private-label. In making our Farm to Bottle Project , we wanted you to be able to trace a product back to where it was grown and made. You want to know where your food comes from, farm to table, so why not the same for your supplements? With private-label supplements, it is nearly impossible to see where all of this took place. White-label and private-label supplements are the exact opposite of the transparency that we strive for.  Examples of private label supplements Many companies and stores present their private label supplements as though they are unique, made just for them, and significantly better than those on the market. If the same product is made for numerous other stores, how unique is it? Private label is the exact opposite of transparency. While I might be able to identify who is private-labeling a company's products fairly quickly, having examined tens of thousands of labels over the years, the average person does not have the same level of experience to do so. You have to rely on the store to tell you, and they could say anything they want.  By law, they are required to test each batch they sell, not just accept the manufacturer's testing information, but almost none of them do. Private labeling can foster brand loyalty, but it does not guarantee the quality of the product. Many of the stores lack staff with experience in supplement quality control and manufacturing, so they don't know if their private label products were manufactured and tested correctly. If we want to be as transparent as possible (and we do), private and white-label supplements are not an option. It would be easy to buy some pre-made products, slap our label on them, and tell a nice story, but we're not in the business of storytelling. It certainly is more profitable. With any of our products, you can easily contact the manufacturer directly and obtain the information for yourself; you don't have to accept our word or go through a complicated process to get real information.  Why do stores sell private-label supplements? There are several reasons a brand may opt for private or white-label products. These are the main ones. Branding and Advertising Every day, you are taking one of their products, so you see their company name, which reinforces the brand. Cost: Usually, but not always, the cost will be lower than the national brand, or the profit margin will be higher. Competition If the product is private labeled, you must get it from that store, and it locks you in.​ None of those benefits you. They are all done to benefit the business and promote brand loyalty. Yes, we are a business. We have bills to pay and mouths to feed, like everyone else, but we want to do business in a way that benefits you most, not our profit margins. The next time a store tries to convince you that their products are unique or better because they have their name on them, think twice; odds are, it's just some other company's products they slapped their label on, and hundreds or thousands of stores have those same identical products.  Private label supplements questions and support If you have questions about white label and private-label supplements, feel free to email us at  info@rooted-nutrition.com,  and we will be happy to answer them.

Beans have often been called the magical fruit because, well, you know. But what if there was an even more magical bean that you've never heard of? We are excited to introduce you to Macambo, the brain bean. Macambo Beans Macambo (Theobroma Bicolor) is cacao’s incredible cousin, also known as Jaguar or Masculine cacao. This super bean has been used for centuries by the Native peoples because of its benefits. Macambo comes from the fruit of a ten million year old tree that was once cacao but evolved into a unique species deep in the Amazon rainforest. It grows around cacao in Peru, towering above and shading it from the sun like a protector. Its brain-like shape is a beautiful coincidence. Nutrients, vitamins, and minerals in Macambo Beans So what’s in these nutty and delicious beans? These little guys are rich in prebiotic fiber. Twelve provides nine grams of fiber, which is beneficial for nourishing your good bacteria. Unlike most beans, the type of fiber in them is not gassy and won’t cause bloating; it is just good food for your good bacteria. They have a great fat profile, low in omega-6 and high in the beneficial fatty acid omega-9. Macambo is rich in several beneficial compounds. Theobromine Theophylline Polyphenols are a class of compounds found in many plant foods that are potent antioxidants and great prebiotics.  These little beans pack some big benefits! How to use macambo beans You can use them in lots of different ways. Enjoy straight from the bag, crumbled over desserts and drinks, or sprinkled on salads for a unique flavor twist. Blend with milk to create a delicious, nutty hot or cold beverage. Grind into a paste and add to desserts, baking, sweets, or savory dishes.  They make a delicious topping on a maca or cacao latte. Macambo Bean Milk You can also make a delicious almond milk alternative using them. Place one cup of macambo beans in a bowl and cover them with water. Soak overnight. Drain and rinse the macambo beans, then add them to a high-speed blender with four cups of fresh water. Blend the mixture until smooth and creamy. Pour the blended mixture through a nut milk bag or fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible to extract all the milk. At this stage, you can sweeten it with ingredients like honey, maple syrup, or dates if desired. You can also add flavors like vanilla extract or cinnamon. Pour the strained mixture into a jar or bottle and store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 or 5 days. Remember to shake it well before each use, as it may separate naturally.  Sustainability and ethics of macambo beans Macambo beans are very rare in the wild and can easily be overharvested, which would lead to them becoming extinct very quickly if lots of companies did it, which is why you should never buy wild-harvested ones. It is only found in South America and some parts of Central America, and it has a beautiful spiritual and physical relationship with cacao in traditional cacao production. We are excited to be able to supply Macambo beans directly from a family farm in Peru that grows them organically. It grows over the cacao, helping to provide shade and protect the cacao. It is not being wild-harvested, so it will not affect wild populations of the plant. The farmers are paid a fair price for their crops. This allows all of us to experience the benefits of this incredible food without causing harm to the environment while helping to provide a good living for family farmers. A true win-win! Use code Macambo at checkout to save ten percent!

Gelatin is a versatile food with numerous benefits. It has, by far, been the product that we have been asked to carry the most. Although we would have sold a ton of it, we never carried it, and I want to share with you why that is, but first, some background and basics. What is gelatin made of? Gelatin is a protein made from the collagen of various foods, including skin, hides, bones, tendons, and ligaments. It is not a complete protein, as it lacks the essential amino acid tryptophan. Benefits of Gelatin Gelatin is a food with numerous benefits. It supports happy hair, skin, and nails, as well as healthy joints. G elatin is a rich source of amino acids, particularly glycine, proline, and lysine, all of which play crucial roles in maintaining a healthy gut and digestive system. How is gelatin made Most gelatin is made in the same way, with a few variables that differ. Here are the basics. The first step is pre-treatment. This is where the raw materials are separated from the minerals and fat. This is done in one of two ways. The first is via an alkaline process for bovine connective tissues. The material is treated with an alkaline solution and left to sit for several weeks, which alters the collagen's structure. This makes the collagen soluble in water, allowing it to be separated from the rest of the raw material.  The second is via an acid process. This is typically done when a company seeks to produce gelatin from non-connective tissues. This involves soaking the material in an acidic solution, typically hydrochloric acid, for a specified period. This removes minerals and bacteria, and helps the collagen break down into gelatin. After pre-treatment, the raw materials are mixed with hot water and put through a multi-stage extraction process. Different water temperatures can be used to affect the strength of the gelatin. This is also known as the bloom value. After extraction, the next step is purification. Separators are used to remove any remaining impurities, such as fats and fibers. The solution is then filtered, and the remaining minerals and acids are removed. Next, the solution is concentrated via evaporation. Then it is sterilized, cooled, dried, and milled into a powder. Gelatin versus collagen Many people ask what the difference is between gelatin and collagen.  Gelatin needs to be further broken down into peptides in the digestive system, whereas collagen peptides are already in this form. Collagen peptides are more readily absorbed than gelatin for this reason. Collagen peptides will dissolve in cold and hot liquids, but gelatin will only dissolve in hot liquids. Gelatin has thickening and gelling properties, while collagen peptides do not. Collagen peptides are best suited for smoothies, drinks, and other beverages that you do not want to thicken. Gelatin is best for making gummies, desserts, cooking, and baked goods. Foods Rich in Gelatin Foods rich in gelatin are those that generally need to be cooked for a long period of time to extract the collagen and form gelatin. These include foods such as oxtail, tripe, intestines, snouts, feet, bones (for bone broth), and cheeks, among others. The long, slow cooking methods help break down the collagen into gelatin. Gelatin is what causes a good stock to become jiggly when refrigerated. How to use powdered gelatin Gelatin powder can be added to lots of foods and recipes. Before using, you will need to “bloom” it by soaking it in cold water, then dissolving it into a hot liquid or melting it before adding to recipes. The recommended dosage for benefits is generally around ten to fifteen grams per day, or as directed by your healthcare practitioner. Those with histamine-related issues should avoid using gelatin powders. Many gelatin powders may contain small amounts of sulphites, as some may be left over from the manufacturing process. This amount can vary significantly from company to company. Good gelatin will not have more than a trace amount. If you are very sensitive to sulphites, you may want to avoid gelatin powder. Gelatin should be stored in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and moisture. Gelatin Recipes There are lots of easy ways to get more gelatin in your diet. Here are some of our favorites. Bone Broth Ingredients: 2 lbs beef bones 2 chicken feet, optional, but ups the gelatin content. 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar Instructions: If you are using raw bones, especially beef bones, it improves flavor to roast them in the oven first. Place them in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes at 350°F. Place the bones in a large stockpot. Pour cool filtered water and the vinegar over the bones. Let it sit at room temperature for thirty minutes. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 24 hours. Strain and let it cool. Store in freezer-safe glass jars in the freezer. Storing bone broth in single-serving jars is a great way to have it readily available whenever you need it. Fluffy Marshmallows Ingredients: 60 mL water 125 mL water 1.5 Tablespoons of gelatin 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract ⅛ teaspoon of salt ½ a cup of powdered coconut sugar Instructions: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour 60 mL of water into a mixing bowl and sprinkle over the gelatin Allow it to sit for five minutes to bloom. In a small saucepan, add 125 ml of water, vanilla extract, and salt. Pour the coconut sugar into the center of the saucepan, but do not stir.  Turn the heat on high and bring the liquid to just below a simmer. You don’t need to boil it; get it hot enough for the sugar to dissolve. As soon as you see bubbles on the edges and the sugar has melted, turn off the heat. Pour the mixture into the bowl, on top of the bloomed gelatin. Use a hand mixer and mix until the mixture is light, fluffy, and thick, for approximately three to five minutes. Pour the mixture into the lined baking tray and smooth it out evenly. Refrigerate until set (around 1.5 to 2 hours) Cut into squares and store in an airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy! Homemade marshmallows are so delicious! Yummy Gummies! Mango Gummies 1/2 cup pureed mango (fresh or frozen) 1-2 tbsp Cacao fruit nectar (tastes fruity, not chocolately, despite the name) 1/2 cup coconut water or water 30 grams of gelatin powder   Raspberry Gummies 1/2 cup raspberry puree, defrosted from frozen to room temperature 1/2 cup coconut water or water 2 tbsp Cacao fruit nectar 30 grams of gelatin powder Blueberry Apple Gummies 1/2 cup blueberries puree, defrosted from frozen to room temperature 1/2 cup of apple juice 1-2 tbsp Cacao fruit nectar 30 grams of gelatin powder Instructions: Puree the fruit with the desired liquid and cacao fruit nectar. Place the pureed fruit into a small saucepan. If your little one is sensitive to texture, you can strain the pureed fruit. Sprinkle the gelatin powder over it and let it sit for 5 minutes to allow the gelatin to bloom. Whisk over low to medium heat until the gelatin is dissolved. Do not let it boil. Pour the mixture into moulds and place them in the fridge to set for 1 to 2 hours, or until firm to the touch. Remove from moulds and store in an airtight container in the fridge. It's tough not to eat the whole batch at once. Where does gelatin come from? Gelatin sold in the US comes from a variety of sources. The vast majority comes from conventionally raised pigs. The next largest source is conventionally raised cattle, with the majority originating from the US and South America.  Many companies sell gelatin made from grass-fed cattle raised in South America. Minimal amounts come from other countries around the world. Gelatin Ethical Issues There are several ethical issues associated with gelatin products, which is why we have not stocked it in the past. In the US, conventionally raised pigs are raised in horrific conditions, fed literal garbage, and produce massive amounts of pollution and waste. Obviously, we wanted no part of this. There are not enough truly pasture-raised pigs in the US to produce enough gelatin to really supply enough of it for the large amounts needed for commercial use. I would recommend a very high level of skepticism towards any company claiming they are selling porcine gelatin from pasture-raised pigs. We looked into several products claiming to be made from pastured pigs, and a whole lot of companies were lying about it, or their definition of pastured was quite a bit different than what most people would consider pastured. Keeping pigs confined and giving them access to a tiny patch of outdoor space is not pasture-raised in our eyes.  Conventionally raised cattle come with their own set of problems, and I think most people are more than aware of what they are. We don’t need to delve too deeply into that. What I want to delve into most deeply is gelatin sourced from South America, including those companies that claim to obtain grass-fed gelatin from there. Cattle ranching in South America, particularly in Brazil, is marred by numerous ethical concerns. It is basically impossible to source ethically produced gelatin and collagen from South America at this time, and I’m going to explain why. The vast majority of grass-fed gelatin sold in the US is produced from South American cattle, with most coming from Brazil. Some companies will buy the raw materials from there, refine them in another country, and hide their true origin. For example, they will say produced in Germany, leaving out that the initial starter material came from Brazil. Brazilian cattle farming comes at a very high cost. It is the leading cause of rainforest deforestation. The Amazon rainforest is often referred to as the lungs of the Earth. It’s not worth losing over beef and gelatin that can be farmed and produced elsewhere without environmental and ethical concerns. In just the last six years alone, over 800 million trees have been cut down in the Amazon rainforest to make way for beef production . The hides from this are used to produce the vast majority of grass-fed beef gelatin products on the market. While the Amazon Rainforest is heavily protected on paper, in reality, that paper is not worth much. Between August 1, 2018, and July 31, 2021, more than 34,000 square km (8.4 million acres) disappeared from the Brazilian Amazon. That’s an area larger than the entire nation of Belgium and a 52 percent increase compared to the previous three years. The primary driver of this is cattle and, in particular, cattle laundering. In a cattle laundering scheme, ranchers move cattle from “dirty” ranches, which contribute to deforestation, to ranches that are “clean,” with no recent forest loss. By the time those cattle arrive at slaughterhouses, the path they’ve taken is obscured, as is the damage they’ve caused. What’s astonishing is that much of this laundering is happening out in the open; investigations largely rely on public records in Brazil, and their findings have circulated for years. Meat from laundered cows is almost certainly now sold around the world. And like that, the Amazon continues to fall. As much as 90 percent of all forest that’s been cleared in the Brazilian Amazon is now covered in pasture, most of which is for cattle. It is not possible to source ethically produced gelatin from Brazil due to the hidden and corrupt nature of the process. Any company claiming to be is either not being honest or is fooled by fake paperwork and good marketing. JBS is the leading supplier of gelatin from Brazil. JBS has had   more scandals   than you can shake a stick at, from insider trading to bribery, the usage of slave labor, and the sale of rotten meat. They mix ingredients from many different farms together, as do nearly all the other large suppliers, so it can be nearly impossible to know which farms they came from or the practices of those farms. “The investigation also uncovered footage of a Temer aide carrying a suitcase containing nearly $150,000, allegedly handed over by JBS. Ricardo Saud, a JBS executive, subsequently testified the company had bribed 1,829 candidates from across the political spectrum, spending almost $250m.” Who doesn’t walk around with a suitcase full of money? That’s not suspicious at all. The company has also come under fire over “dirty meat.” In 2017, JBS was caught up in an industry-wide scandal; police claimed inspectors had been bribed to allow the sale of rotten beef, falsified export and other documents, and had deliberately failed to properly inspect meat plants. In 2017, an investigation by the Guardian and Repórter Brasil found JBS had bought beef from a farm that was under investigation by Brazilian prosecutors for using workers in conditions described as being like “modern-day slavery.” Documents said police had found men forced to live in conditions described as inhumane and degrading, with inadequate shelter, toilets or drinking water. This is the behavior that many people unknowingly support by buying gelatin produced in South America. The problem is that most companies are not transparent and conceal the origin of their collagen, its production process, and the identity of the manufacturer. An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the Guardian, ITV and O Joio e O Trigo has found that tens of thousands of cattle raised on farms damaging tropical forests were processed at abattoirs connected to international collagen and gelatin supply chains. Some companies claim that they are just buying the by-products of the Brazilian cattle industry, so they are not contributing to the problem. This argument is a giant steaming pile of horseshit. Bovine collagen (which gelatin is made from) is a so-called by-product of the cattle industry .   But “by-product” is a misleading term, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency, an advocacy group headquartered in London. “​​I wouldn't call any of them by-products. The margins for the meat industry are quite narrow, so all of the saleable parts of the animal are built into the business model,” Rick Jacobsen, commodity policy manager at the EIA, said. Non-meat products account for just under a half a slaughtered cow's weight and can generate up to a quarter of meatpackers’ incomes, according to estimates by Bain & Co, a market research group. By far the most valuable “by-products” are the cattle hides used to make leather and collagen. The immense violence caused by the expansion of cattle ranching in the Brazilian Rainforest against the native peoples there is horrific. “No cattle ranching expansion in the Amazon can take place without violence,” said Bruno Malheiro, a geographer and professor at the Federal University of Southern and Southeastern Pará. For Kátia Silene Akrãtikatêjê, the first woman to become a leader of the Gavião people, it’s like living on an island. Her people feel “surrounded, suffocated”, she told TBIJ. The Mãe Maria reserve is the only territory in hundreds of miles that still resembles the imposing Amazon rainforest. Malheiro calls it “a process of territorial confinement”. For the Gavião, maintaining the forest where they hunt, fish, farm and collect seeds comes with threats, attempted invasions and arson. In September last year, an entire village was burned down. A school, dozens of houses and a patch of forest were reduced to ashes. The fire was no accident, they say, and the community still lives in fear. “[The farmers] destroy what is theirs, and invade what is ours. I can’t understand why they destroy everything,” the Indigenous leader said. According to José Batista Afonso, a lawyer and land rights defender working with Pastoral Land Commission in Marabá, the region offers a glimpse of what the whole Amazon could look like if ranching continues to expand unchecked. Brazil’s Piripkura Tribe has suffered horribly from beef production. Many of their people have been killed in massacres, and more than 12,000 hectares of their land has already been destroyed. In addition, slave labor runs rampant in the Brazilian cattle industry. Workers on various beef farms in Brazil have been found toiling in “slavery-like conditions,” according to a report from Brazilian investigative agency Repórter Brasil, the Guardian reported. On some operations, workers were paid around $11 a day and were kept in shacks without running water, electricity, and toilets. Since 1995, 55,000 workers have been rescued from similar situations during government audits, according to the Guardian.   The farms engaging in this activity often supply multinational meat processors, the investigative report found, including JBS and Minerva. Now you can see why we have never and will never sell collagen peptides, gelatin, and beef organ supplements from South America. For the sake of our planet and the Native peoples in the Amazon, please boycott all beef products from South America and especially Brazil. Does this mean there are no good cattle ranches in South America? No, of course not. It simply means that it is nearly impossible to know which farms the products have come from when you receive them. Gelatin Adulteration Gelatin adulteration has been going on a long time. Most gelatin adulteration is done for economic reasons. The first type is when cheaper forms of gelatin, such as porcine, is substituted for beef, donkey, or deer gelatin, but the label still claims to be the more expensive form of gelatin. For those keeping Kosher or Halal, this can be especially problematic. The second form is the more concerning one. This is where gelatin is made from leather making waste. This can be contaminated with hazardous forms of chromium, lead, and chemicals used in leather-making, which are highly toxic. There are several different types of testing that companies can use to detect gelatin adulteration. However, since most gelatin is sold at a very low price and the tests can be expensive, most companies don't conduct adulteration testing. How to choose the best beef gelatin powder So what should you look for in a beef gelatin powder? The first is that it should be made from grass-fed cattle. I don’t mean confined cattle that are fed hay and spend only a tiny amount of time; I mean cattle that spend their days wandering around lush pastures.  The second is the source. Look for gelatin that is made from Australian cattle. Australia has some of the strictest regulations on cattle farming and some of the best traceability laws for beef ingredients used in supplements. Each carton of beef must have a process date and a barcode that links it to a particular animal with known credentials (Bull, Cow, Veal, Steer, and more), including the details of the farm from which the animal originated.  Every animal has an ear tag identifier when it’s born, which allows the regulator, the Australian Government, to track every movement of that animal. Food safety, quality, and regulations are far more stringent and well-enforced in Australia than they are in the US.  The cattle should: Not be given antibiotics, hormones, Bovaer, Rumin8, and other synthetic feed additives.  Graze freely on wide-open pastures that are not sprayed with herbicides and pesticides, including Glyphosate, and eat a wide variety of different grasses. The gelatin should be tested for heavy metals, pesticide and herbicide residues, and microbial contamination. Third-party tested Beef Gelatin We are frequently asked about third-party testing, not just of gelatin, but of many other supplements as well. Check out our blog to see if third-party testing is a good measure of quality control, or if it’s just a marketing gimmick. Thankfully Nourished Australian Beef Gelatin Finding an ethical gelatin has been a multi-year process, marked by considerable frustration. It’s tough to spend countless hours hitting wall after wall searching for something, while being gaslit by companies and asked every day if we had a good source of gelatin to recommend. Thankfully Nourished Beef Gelatin  is produced in Australia from grass-fed cattle and is free from antibiotics, hormones (including rBGH), Bovaer, Rumin8, and Glyphosate. It is third-party tested for heavy metals, pesticide/herbicide residue, and microbial contamination. Click the button below to view the test results. The cattle graze on unsprayed pastures, eating a variety of grasses over an extensive range of pasture. There is no slave labor involved, and land is not cleared to make room for pasture. Australia naturally contains vast amounts of pasture land that is not suitable for row crop farming, making it ideal for grazing cattle, which, when properly managed, helps to improve the land.  Thankfully Nourished believes that not only should their products be incredible, but they should work to make the world a better place. All the products in their range are uncomplicated whole foods, sourced from the highest-quality ingredients. They partner with A21 in their goal to prevent and end human trafficking; with Samaritan's Purse in their worldwide humanitarian aid efforts; and with Mission Without Borders in their family sponsorship program, helping families build their way out of poverty.  We are thrilled to partner with Thankfully Nourished, a company that shares our values, to offer you the most incredible beef gelatin  with all the benefits and none of the ethical concerns. Gelatin questions and support If you have questions about our gelatin, please email us at   info@rooted-nutrition.com , and we would be happy to answer your questions!

Probiotics are everywhere and in everything, from teas to bread. Every day on social media and online, you can see ads for them everywhere. All of them screaming “Our probiotic is the best; it has 57,000 different types of bacteria and 50 bijillion of them.” They're like the guy who can’t stop talking about big his you-know-what is. The fact of the matter, though, is that almost none of them are actually unique, other than the fancy marketing. Here is a little inside-industry knowledge. Over 90% of probiotics you see come from just a handful of culture houses. Basically, these big companies grow a bunch of bacteria in giant vats, isolate, and blend them in various amounts and bacterial species. Dupont, the makers of Teflon and the company behind the Bhopal disaster , is the largest. Then they offer these formulas to supplement companies who buy them, slap their label on the bottles, and then go to town advertising how much better their probiotics are than that other guy who is essentially selling the same thing. Sure, they sometimes throw a spec of prebiotic or something else that looks good on the label, but their fairy dusting and tinkering around the edges really does not change the fact that by and large, most of these products are essentially the same. In our search for the ultimate probiotic, we looked at probably thousands of products. Label after label and marketing material after marketing material. They are all pretty much the same thing over and over. Meg Meg, after looking at labels for a half-hour. She is not super helpful. What were we looking for in whole-food probiotics? Well, firstly, we wanted it to be a fermented whole-food product. The best way to get lots of good probiotics in their optimal form is with whole foods. Foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir, beet kvass, miso, etc, are the best sources of probiotics. Nearly every culture around the world has its own version. The probiotics grow naturally in the foods as they ferment. So we wanted a probiotic that mimicked the way humans have been getting these incredible bacteria and yeasts throughout our history. These probiotics would be sourced from organic whole foods that were fermented for at least three weeks (not just a couple of hours), similar to how long it takes to make fermented foods like sauerkraut. We wanted it to have sufficient amounts of whole-food prebiotics . Prebiotics are the food that probiotics eat. Too many products contain a pinch of various heavily refined ingredients like fos or inulin. These are not the same thing as real whole foods. There needed to be enough of them as well. Putting twenty-five milligrams of processed sugar is not going to cut it as a food source for your probiotics, but it makes for great label padding. When ingesting these bacteria, they need good amounts of a variety of foods to thrive. These foods also help to protect them from the harsh environment of the stomach and digestive secretions. Imagine if you were dropped off in a hostile place and all you had to eat was some white bread. You might not die, but you are certainly not going to thrive. So we wanted a product that had good amounts of a variety of whole foods so that they would flourish. We wanted it to have plenty of postbiotics. Postbiotics are beneficial compounds that are produced when the bacteria and yeasts feed on the prebiotics. Many products claim to have these, but they are in such small amounts as to not be of any actual benefit. Postibiotics are compounds such as lactic acid and butyric acid. Our ideal probiotic product would have lots of these important compounds in amounts that were actually effective. We wanted it to be certified organic and ethically produced. If there were lots of whole foods in the product, we wanted to make sure they were grown without synthetic pesticides and herbicides in a sustainable way, as well as make sure the farmers were paid a fair price for their work. In addition, we wanted to make sure the probiotic cultures did not come from a company like Dupont . We wanted it to have good amounts of live and active bacteria. There needed to be enough bacteria to actually have a beneficial effect. Most probiotics are freeze-dried (freeze-drying is great for a lot of foods, but not so great for probiotics) in order to put them into a dormant state. Then when they hit the moisture in the digestive tract, they are supposed to come back to life. The problem with this is that often they do not. So while a product may claim to have 50 billion bacteria, it does not mean that all of them will actually be active when they get in your gut. The freeze-drying process often damages the cell wall and many of the bacteria are not able to revive after the drying process. Even with the addition of various cryoprotectant agents, less than twenty percent of freeze-dried probiotics are viable after freeze-drying. That means in many products, for every 100 billion bacteria they claim to have, less than 20 billion will actually be viable. So the numbers on the bottle, even if testing shows they are in there, are not representative of how many live bacteria will be delivered to your gut. We wanted the bacteria to be live, active, viable, and reproducing in the bottle. This could only happen if they were still in their culture medium and dried in a way that did not damage their cell walls because they would need to be able to continue eating so they did not die. This brings us to our next point. We wanted bacterial diversity. When we eat Lacto-fermented foods, there are lots of different bacteria, not just three or four types. A wide variety of beneficial bacteria helps to ensure that our gut can thrive. Think of a garden and how much better a variety of plants do together and how much more beneficial they are versus monoculture farming. The bacteria needed to be left in their intact colonies. Bacteria naturally grow in colonies. Nearly all probiotics on the market use cultures that were centrifuged, which breaks up the colonies and separates them from the culture medium. This allows companies to produce cheaper products with higher counts of bacteria, but those bacteria are significantly weaker than those left in their intact colony structure and culture medium. So, finding a probiotic that respected the way that bacteria naturally grow was incredibly important. While listing huge numbers of bacteria is great for marketing, it does not make a better product. Next up, we wanted the bacteria to be stress tested. When you ingest probiotics, they are headed into a war zone. Stomach acid, digestive secretions, bad bacteria, poor food choices, and so much more are waiting for them. The probiotics have to be strong enough to withstand the onslaught. That’s where stress testing comes in. Most probiotics are not tested to show they survive harsh conditions, so how do we know they actually survive in the gut? We wanted cultures that were properly stress tested. Ideally, the bacteria would be exposed to a variety of pH levels, various acids, temperature changes, and a variety of other compounds that normally kill them to ensure that the weaker bacteria die off and only the stronger ones survive the process. We wanted the product to be shelf-stable. Most probiotics that you see in the fridge in stores were not stored or shipped refrigerated. They are just put in the fridge after they get to the store. What passes for refrigerated shipping at most companies is just an ice pack in a box. That is not the same as true refrigerated shipping. So we wanted a product that was stable at room temperature and did not require special handling. This would also make it much easier to travel with. It would need to be tested to show that the bacteria were still viable at temperatures that normally occur during shipping, from winter cold to summer heat. Finally, we wanted every batch to be third-party tested to ensure that it had the bacteria (types and amounts) it claimed to and that these amounts would be present through the expiration date at the recommended storage conditions. We also wanted the testing to show that it was free of contaminants. While this seems like a long wish list, we were not looking for your run-of-the-mill probiotic; we wanted something truly special. Something that would truly support the health of the people taking it by improving their own unique microbiome, not just to help with symptoms. We wanted something that supported small, organic farmers, not big chemical companies. We started our search in the United States, but we did not find any products that checked all of the boxes. We were not going to be satisfied with just some of them; we wanted the whole enchilada. After a very long and exhausting process, we found a small New Zealand company that managed to check all the boxes. New Zealanders Partying Immunity Fuel Whole Food Probiotics Immunity Fuel is made much differently than traditional probiotic products. A unique blend of organic prebiotic foods is fermented for three weeks. During that time, fourteen beneficial bacteria and yeasts are exposed to a variety of temperatures, pH levels, and various stressors to ensure that only the strong ones survive. This process cost over 2.5 million dollars and took eighteen years to develop and perfect. Years of exposure to various stressors have forced an evolution of the bacteria, which helps them to be resistant to many of the things that would normally kill probiotics. Throughout the fermentation process, a variety of tests are performed to ensure that everything is progressing properly. Immunity Fuel’s prebiotic blend provides a rich food source for the bacteria, which not only nourishes them but helps to protect them on the perilous journey through your gut. Each serving provides nearly three grams (3,000 milligrams) of organic prebiotic foods. This is far in excess of traditional probiotic products, which often provide only a very small amount of heavily refined prebiotics. Probiotics combined with prebiotics are sometimes referred to as synbiotics. During the fermentation, the bacteria and yeasts transform the sugars and fibers found in the prebiotic foods into beneficial postbiotics. These compounds have a wide array of benefits in supporting gut and immune function. Unlike other companies, which may add tiny amounts of isolated postibiotics, Immunity Fuel leaves them intact in the culture medium, so you get the full benefits. After the fermentation process, the probiotics and culture medium are gently solar-dried. Solar drying allows the finished product to retain nearly all of its nutritional value without negatively impacting the probiotics. Unlike freeze-drying, the bacteria are still in their active state, and their cell walls are not damaged. After drying, the powder is third-party tested for bacterial count and contamination. Then the powder is bottled or encapsulated. No centrifuging or heavy processing is done. We are so excited to be able to offer this incredible probiotic. The journey may have taken us a long time, but it was well worth it. Finding a probiotic that would deliver real health benefits, not just great marketing, is an accomplishment we are so proud of. So, if you are looking for a unique, raw, fermented, whole-food probiotic complex, complete with large amounts of prebiotics and postbiotics, then Immunity Fuel is for you! Make sure to check out our gut health center for more great information on building a healthy gut. Whole Food Probiotic Support We know this is a lot of information, so if you have questions, don’t know where to start, or need support, we are always available to help. Drop us an email anytime at info@rooted-nutrition.com , or   book a free call ,   and we will be happy to help you on your health journey!

Most of us don’t think about our joints daily, but as soon as the aching, cracking, and soreness start, they jump right to the front of our minds. This blog will cover the best ways to nourish your joints, from the right foods and exercises to whole-food supplements! What can you do to support healthy joints? Exercises for healthy joints Certain types of exercises can help to keep your joints flexible and happy. Click the button below to download a guide to joint health exercises. How gut health effects your joints Most people don’t know that your gut's health significantly impacts your joints (and many other body systems). So keeping it healthy is vital to keep your joints in fighting shape. Check out our Gut Health Center to learn ways to keep your gut working at its best. Stress and joint health High levels of stress can increase joint pain and inflammation . It can also cause the muscles around the joints to tense up and cramp. So keeping stress levels under control is essential to keeping your joints healthy. Check out our article, Stress 101 , for ways to keep your stress under control. Hydration and joint health Drinking plenty of water is vital for healthy joints. Being dehydrated is a great way to make your joints crack and hurt. Mineral water, such as Gerolsteiner , is excellent because many people do not get enough calcium and magnesium in their diet. Skip the terrible water-flavoring products and use whole foods to flavor your water. Foods that are not good for your joints What you eat can make the difference between healthy joints and painful joints. Nourishing whole foods support your joints, while the wrong foods inflame and irritate them. Avoid these foods if you want to keep your joints happy: Refined flours and sugars Alcohol Artificial, sugar alcohol, and zero calorie sweeteners because of their negative effect on gut health. Choose local raw honey, maple syrup, coconut, or date sugar. Oxalate-rich foods can deposit crystals into the synovial fluid inside the joint; this can cause arthritis called Oxalate Arthropathy . Avoiding these foods can help to prevent this problem. Spinach Swiss chard Soy products Rhubard Almonds Beets Potatoes Sweet potatoes are much lower in oxalates and far more nourishing, so make the swap! Legumes Other foods have them but are in lower amounts, which is not a problem for most people. However, if you have oxalate-induced joint pain, you should go on a low-oxalate diet. Avoiding fake butter, vegetable, and seed oils may be the most critical part of keeping your joints healthy. These inflammatory oils are rich in omega-6 (linoleic acid), which wreaks havoc on your joints and the rest of your body. Unfortunately, these horrible “foods” are found in virtually everything nowadays. Check out this article to learn more and how to avoid them. If you could only do one thing to improve your health, cutting these out of your diet should be it. Primarily corn and soy-fed chicken and pork, as well as farm-raised fish, should be avoided as they are high in omega-6 as well. Foods that Support Healthy joints These nourishing whole foods can help you keep your joints ready for whatever activities you have planned, from hiking the trails to dancing at your ex-wife's wedding. Make sure to eat some every day; you cannot just eat them once in a while and expect to get the benefits. Berries Berries contain compounds that help turn off the inflammation signals triggered by cytokines and cox-2 enzymes. Pomegranates can help to lower the levels of certain inflammatory compounds that contribute to certain types of arthritis. Eat the fruit (fresh or frozen), not the juice. Tart cherries can help to reduce swelling in the joints. Vitamin C-rich fruits The body uses vitamin C to produce collagen. So eat those oranges. Protein is vital for healthy joints. The body needs a lot of amino acids to build healthy joints. Try to shoot for at least one hundred grams of protein per day (some people may need more) Good quality protein sources are: Pastured Eggs Bone Broth Organ meats Grass-fed ruminant meat Grass-fed organ meat Sustainably wild-caught fish Raw grass-fed milk, yogurt, and cheese Native whey protein Healthy fats Sustainably wild-caught low mercury fish , wild salmon roe , tinned cod livers These foods are rich in omega-3 Bone Marrow Grass-fed tallow Grass-fed ghee Grass-fed butter Ginger Grate a ¼ inch of fresh ginger, steep it for ten minutes covered, and drink two to three times daily. Sweeten with a bit of honey if desired. Turmeric with ghee Cooking turmeric with some good fat increases the absorption of the beneficial compounds. Lacto-fermented foods Yogurt and kefir Buy full-fat plain versions and add fruit or honey for sweetness, rather than buying pre-flavored versions. Lacto-fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, pickles, beet kvass, and kimchi. Whole food supplements for healthy joints Nourishing whole-food supplements can help give your joints the extra boost they need. However, taking them daily at the correct dosage is essential to get relief. It can take several months to start to feel the full benefits. Taking too low a dose, taking them inconsistently, or taking them for too short a period will not get you the results you are looking for. First up is Rosita cod liver oil . Over ninety-five percent of the population does not get enough omega three fatty acids in their diet. This can have a profound effect on joint health. The ratio of omega-six to omega-three should be around two or three to one, but unfortunately, most peoples are around thirty or fifty to one. This imbalance causes a tremendous amount of health issues. You can read more about this here . The solution to this is to dramatically decrease the amount of omega-six in the diet and increase the amount of omega-three. Unrefined cod liver oil contains omega-three fatty acids, vitamins A, D, and other beneficial compounds. The fatty acids and vitamins are in their naturally occurring forms. Nearly all cod liver oils are heavily processed, which changes the structure of the fatty acids into one not found in fish or food, and the natural vitamins are stripped out. True, whole-food cod liver oil is deeply nourishing. Refined, heavily processed fish oils (such as those made with molecular distillation) are not a substitute, any more than heavily processed foods are a substitute for whole foods. Emu Spirit Emu oil is another great supplement for healthy joints. It is rich in omega fatty acids, as well as being the richest food source of the mk-4 form of vitamin k2. This form is far more potent and than the k1 found in plants and the mk-7 form found in most supplements. It contains many other fat-soluble nutrients and compounds not found in most people's diets. It is a highly nourishing food. As with whole-food cod liver oil, refined emu oil is not even close to the same as whole-food emu oil . Getting plenty of healthy fats is very important for healthy joints. While most people think of glucosamine for joint health, we believe there is a better, more nourishing way. Glucosamine is typically made from farmed shrimp shells. These shells come from heavily polluting farms that often use slave labor . This is not something we want anything to do with. Most glucosamine supplements are an ethical nightmare. We wanted a better option. One that was a whole food source of glycosaminoglycans (glucosamine is a constituent of some of these), chondroitin, proteoglycans (such as hyaluronic acid), and type two collagen, which was ethically produced. One issue we found when looking into this was that most whole-food materials that contained these compounds had poor bioavailability and absorption. No matter how good the ingredient is, it will not do any good if you don’t absorb it. The richest food source of these compounds was bovine tracheal cartilage. It has a long history of use for many health issues and was championed by Dr. John Prudden , who conducted a lot of research on it. After finding an ideal food source for these compounds, we needed to find one that was ethically produced and properly manufactured. When reviewing products containing this material, it was tough to find products that we could trace the source of the ingredients back to their origin. Most companies could only tell us the country of origin, not the farm it came from or how the people who raised the cattle and the animals were treated. We needed one where we could trace the material back to the farm, one that met the criteria for our Farm-To-Bottle Project . We needed to find a company that partnered directly with ranchers grazing cattle using regenerative agricultural methods, so we could verify the source was environmentally friendly, took good care of their workers, and had happy and healthy animals. After a lot of searching, we finally found it; yay! The cattle are from a rancher-owned cooperative of small farmers called Obe Organic . They use regenerative agriculture for grazing their cattle across a large swath of land in the Lake Eyre region of the Australian Outback. The cows spend their time in the sun grazing on nearly one hundred grasses and plants. This land is not suited to growing crops, so cattle grazing is the perfect use for it. The land has never been sprayed with pesticides. The cows are monitored via helicopter as they range over great distances. Their grazing and fertilizing help to sequester massive amounts of carbon in the soil. If all cattle were raised this way, animal agriculture would be carbon neutral and help to sequester more carbon in the soil than they produced! Regenerative agriculture helps produces more nutritious food, improves soil health, helps it to hold more moisture, and improves the local water table. Several steps are needed in order to produce a good product using this raw material. All these must be done just right because this material can be easily damaged and degraded. Most companies we found selling it did not produce the material and could not give us accurate details as to how it was processed and made. Others used high-heat processes and horrible solvents (like hexane) and were selling a worthless powder, but you could not tell this from the label. Check out our blog, A Tale Of Two Bottles , to learn more about why labels and good stories are often extremely misleading. First, the material is milled into a powder using a unique cold milling process to protect fragile compounds from heat and friction. Then enzymes (like those found in certain fruits) break down the material into smaller, easier-to-digest and absorb compounds. Without careful milling and enzyme processes, the absorption and bioavailability of the beneficial compounds are poor. Then it is slowly freeze-dried over forty-eight hours to protect and preserve the beneficial properties. Think of NXGEN Wholefoods Type Two Collagen as a whole food multivitamin for the joints. It helps to feed and nourish them, giving your joints the nutrients they need to be healthy and working at their best. Whole Bone Matrix makes a fantastic companion to the type two collagen. It provides a number of important compounds, including calcium, phosphorus, and other collagens and proteins that support healthy joints. It’s never too late to start working on your joint health. The best time is now! You don’t have to be perfect; going slow and gradually implementing those changes is okay. The most important thing is to get started. Do you have joint health questions or need support? We know this is a lot of information, so if you have questions about joint health, email us at   info@rooted-nutrition.com ,  or schedule a free call . We will be happy to answer any questions you have!

I am beyond over it with all of these fake whole-food supplements. Every year, more and more of them come out. It is so incredibly frustrating to see companies doing this over and over again.    I feel like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill over and over again after twenty years of screaming into the void about fake whole-food supplements. I want to clarify that I am not saying synthetic or isolated vitamins have no value; they certainly have their use. What I am very much against is companies spending lots of marketing dollars making people think their vitamins are whole food when if people saw how they were made and what was in them, they would not believe they were whole food. If a company's packaging is designed to make people think a product is whole food, but it is not, then that marketing needs to go. Real Whole Food Supplements Versus Fake Whole Food Supplements A whole-food supplement is one in which all the nutrients come from food. They are not isolated from the foods but are contained in the same nutrient matrix that they naturally occur in foods. For example, magnesium in food would be bound to various amino acids and other compounds. Freeze-dried beef liver capsules would be an example of a whole-food supplement, but b-12 isolated from beef liver would not be a whole-food supplement. Examples of fake whole-food supplements Many supplements claim to be made from a specific food, but the foods they claim to make them from only contain a very small amount of that nutrient, so it would not be economically viable to make a supplement from them. The biggest culprit I have been seeing like this lately are zinc supplements claiming to be made from guava fruit or guava leaves. Guava fruit and leaves have minimal zinc, so making a zinc supplement from them would cost a small fortune. We counted over twenty brands selling zinc supplements or multivitamins with the zinc claimed to be from guava. Nearly all of them buy raw materials from one particular supplier. I have no way of knowing if the companies don't care, or if they did not research it and just accepted the supplier's claims that the zinc was from guava, or if they are deliberately misleading people. Let's start with some math. Guava leaves are about 82% moisture . So, one pound of guava leaves dries into about three ounces of powder. Three ounces of powder is about eighty-five to ninety grams. One hundred grams of guava leaf powder contains about 230 micrograms (.23 milligrams) of zinc . This means to make one fifteen milligram (15,000 micrograms) tablet of zinc claiming to be from guava leaves, it would take over sixty pounds of guava leaves. That means making a bottle of sixty tablets of those 15-milligram tablets would take over 3,600 pounds of fresh guava leaves. There are probably not enough guava leaves and trees in the world to make the amount of zinc sold that claims to be made from guava leaves. Think of how much it costs to buy 3,600 pounds of guava leaves. Then, add the costs of manufacturing, shipping, and manufacturing. There would be no way to sell that product for twenty-five dollars. Guava fruit, while delicious and healthy, is not a good source of zinc either . One cup of guava fruit contains about .38 milligrams (380 micrograms) of zinc .  This means that making a twenty-five milligram zinc capsule would take over sixty-five cups of guava, and a bottle of sixty pills would take over 3,900 cups of guava, about 1,418 pounds. Think of how much money that would cost. You certainly could not sell it for twenty-five dollars a bottle. Another example we see is iron supplements claiming to be from curry leaves.  Fresh curry leaves contain about 1 mg of iron per 100 grams, and when dried, 12 grams of iron per 100 grams.  Fresh curry leaves are about 70% moisture, so each pound dries into about 150 grams of powder. So, making one twenty-four milligram tablet of curry leaf iron would take over one pound of fresh curry leaves. Making a bottle of sixty pills would take over seventy pounds of fresh curry leaves. This would cost significant money, plus manufacturing, packaging, shipping, testing, etc. There is no way it could be sold for twenty-five dollars a bottle. The math ain’t mathing! Another one we see a lot of is folate made from lemon peel, often labeled as folic acid from lemon peel extract. First, lemons and other plants do not contain folic acid; they include various folates. Folic acid does not exist in nature. If you see any supplement claiming they are getting folic acid from food, that is a huge red flag. Second, lemon peel is not a good source of folate.  One ounce of lemon peel only has about 3.9 mcg of folate , whereas one ounce of spinach has 58 mcg, and it is an excellent source of folate. To make an eight hundred microgram tablet of folate from lemon peel, you would need over thirteen pounds of lemon peel and over seven hundred and eighty pounds to make a sixty-count bottle. Think how much that would cost. There is no way it could be sold for twenty dollars a bottle. This is maddening! It’s also unfair to consumers because you should not have to do a lot of math and research to determine if a product is a whole-food supplement. All too frequently, supplements claim to contain a vitamin or mineral derived from a particular food, but that food does not contain that nutrient. For example, below is a supplement claiming to sell b-12, as methylcobalamin, from saccharomyces cerevisiae (nutritional yeast). Well, nutritional yeast does not contain b-12. When you buy nutritional yeast at the store that contains b-12, it is because synthetic b-12 has been added, not because it naturally contains it. Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not naturally contain vitamin b12! Here is what is really happening with products like that. Lab-made B-12 is being fed to yeast, and then they claim that it is from the yeast. I will leave it up to you to decide if that is how a whole-food supplement is made. Feeding or fermenting yeast with some synthetic or isolated minerals, vitamins, sugar, and amino acids (a common practice many companies use) does not turn them into whole food supplements or whole food-like substances. For example, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) fed to yeast (nutritional yeast does not naturally contain vitamin C) does not develop the bioflavonoid complex that naturally occurs in oranges, and adding a few isolated bioflavonoids to the capsule does not have the same function as vitamin C naturally bound and complexed with the bioflavonoids. Another common example of fake whole-food supplements is mixing synthetic and isolated vitamins with some food and labeling them as a whole-food supplement. Blending lab-made vitamin and mineral powders with some food powder does not magically transform them into a whole-food supplement. The vitamins and minerals listed are not made from the fruit and vegetable blend. The company is mixing regular vitamins and minerals with a little bit of food. Do you think a company should be able to label this product a whole-food multivitamin? When a company mixes regular vitamins and minerals with some food powder, the vitamins are not complexed with the food, nor do they become a part of the whole foods. However, the labeling, with terms like whole food, plant-based, food grown, and food-based, makes people think they are whole food supplements. This is excellent marketing, and it really seems to be working because if you show people the packaging, they believe, and rightfully so, based on the marketing, that it is whole food, and they think the vitamins in it are made from the foods listed on the label. It is an absolute triumph for these marketing departments. It makes me sick that this practice is allowed.  I can promise that we will never sell those kinds of products, and if something we are selling turns into a product like the examples listed above, we will discontinue it without a thought.  Real whole food supplements Thankfully, some great companies are making real whole-food supplements. Here are some of our favorite ones: NXGEN Wholefoods -   The most nutrient-dense whole food concentrates  and organs - Our choice for things like b-vitamins, iron, multivitamins, calcium, etc. Cow and Bull - W hole food Beef Organ formulas for nourishing and building health Emerald Isle Seaweed - Hand-harvested seaweed supplements from Northern Ireland Hydrata - Whole food electrolyte powders   Seleno Health - The best maca and cacao in the world Greens Without The Grass - Green food powders with grass, fillers, sweeteners, and flavorings   Nature2U - Whole Food Vitamin C, made with Kakadu Plums   Nutriplex Formulas - Whole food formulas designed to help you thrive Immunity Fuel - Whole Food Probiotics   Rosita Real Foods - Omega-three fatty acids  in their natural form Triquetra Health Magnesium - Whole food magnesium supplement NZ Pure Health - Oyster zinc supplement Whole Food Supplement Support The next time a supplement's marketing or packaging makes you think it is a whole food, we hope you will stop and really think about whether it is truly a whole food supplement. Now, we know it can be hard to figure it out, so we are here to help! If you are wondering if a supplement is actually whole food, feel free to email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com  or book a free call , and we will be happy to walk you through it! You deserve real whole-food supplements!

Digestive enzymes play important roles in the body. If they are not produced in sufficient amounts or the environment in the gut is not optimal, digestive problems and other health issues can result, including reduced nutrient absorption. Choosing the right digestive enzyme can feel overwhelming because of how many choices there are.  What are digestive enzymes? Digestive enzymes are proteins that help to break down the fats, proteins, and carbohydrates you eat into smaller molecules that are easier to absorb. They are produced in the salivary glands, stomach, pancreas, and small intestine.    What Digestive enzymes are produced by the body? The body produces a variety of digestive enzymes. It starts in your mouth, with the production of amylases by your salivary glands. Amylases break down starches and carbohydrates into sugars. They also produce lysozyme, which is used to break down the cell walls of things like bacteria. While not an enzyme, your stomach produces HCL (hydrochloric acid), which helps to break down proteins and kill pathogens. Your stomach also produces pepsin to help break down proteins and small amounts of lipase to break down fats. Next, bicarbonate is produced in the pancreas (and to a lesser extent, in the stomach), which helps increase the pH of food and secretions as they leave the stomach, allowing the enzymes produced by the pancreas to break down the food properly. If the pH of things leaving the stomach is too low, the enzymes produced by the pancreas will not function well.  The pancreas produces amylase (for digesting carbohydrates), proteases, like trypsin and chymotrypsin (for digesting proteins), and lipase (for digesting fats). While not enzymes, the pancreas also produces hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin. People whose pancreas does not produce enough digestive enzymes are often diagnosed with a condition called Pancreatic Insufficiency, also known as exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), which can lead to malabsorption of nutrients. The small intestine also produces some enzymes, including lactase (to break down lactose in dairy products), peptidases (to break down proteins), disaccharidases (to break down complex sugars), lipase (to break down fats), and sucrase (to break down sugars). While not enzymes, bile acids are digestive secretions with very important functions. Bile acids are produced in the liver and help your body break down the fats you eat. Bile is stored in the gallbladder and released into the small intestine as needed by the body. They help break fats down into smaller molecules. Bile also helps remove waste products, such as bilirubin, from the body. Bile acids are also involved in the absorption and excretion of cholesterol.  How to support your body's production of digestive enzymes Digestion begins in the mouth when your salivary glands produce amylases to digest carbohydrates. This process also starts to stimulate the release of various digestive secretions. One of the most important ways you can help your body produce more enzymes is to slowly and thoroughly chew your food before swallowing. Gulping food down on the run is quite bad for your digestion.  Mindful eating  is an excellent practice for improving the body's digestive enzyme secretions. It involves being present and in the moment while eating, rather than mindlessly eating.  Another way is to eat bitter foods. Bitter foods stimulate digestive secretions. Try to have some a few minutes before your meal for the best effects. These are some great bitter foods: Dandelion greens Arugula Chicory Bitter melon Fresh artichokes Endives Raddichio Bitter melon Foods rich in digestive enzymes Many foods contain digestive enzymes, which is a great way to support your digestion. Pineapple is well known for being rich in bromelain. Bromelain is not a single enzyme, but rather a mixture of several. Bromelain helps to digest proteins. It is found in the highest amounts in the core and stem of the pineapple. You want fresh pineapple because canned pineapple and bottled pineapple juice typically contain little to no bromelain. Bromelain is a main ingredient in meat tenderizers. Papaya is rich in papain. Papain is an enzyme that helps to break down proteins. You want fresh papaya, not canned or juice. Avocados contain lipase, which helps to break down fats. Bananas are rich in amylase and maltase. Amylase helps to break down starches and carbohydrates, while maltase helps to break down the malt sugars found in starchy foods.  Mangos are rich in amylase, which helps to break down starches and carbohydrates. Ginger is rich in the enzyme zingibain, which helps to digest proteins. It is also believed to aid in increasing the body's production of digestive enzymes.  Pancreas, also known as sweetbreads, is the richest food source of enzymes, including proteases, amylases, and lipase. They have a rich, creamy texture, but can be hard to find. White Oak Pastures is a good source  for them. What are the different types of enzymes found in digestive enzyme supplements? Amylase - Breaks down starches into sugars. Glucoamylase - Breaks down starch into glucose. Alpha-Galactosidase - Breaks down the starches in beans that cause gas. Beta Glucanase - Breaks down beta-glucans. ​Bromelain - A blend of enzymes that breaks down proteins. Cellulase - Breaks down cellulose. DAO - Breaks down histamine in the gut.. Hemicellulase -  Breaks down hemicellulose. Lactase - Breaks down lactose. Lipase - Breaks down fat. Maltase - Breaks down maltose Pancreatic Enzymes - A blend of Amylases, proteases, and lipase to help break down a variety of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Papain - Breaks down protein. Papaya Enzymes - A blend of enzymes derived from papayas, including papain and chymopapain, that help to break down proteins. Pectinase - Breaks down pectin. Pepsin - Breaks down proteins. Phytase - Breaks down phytic acid. Proteases - Break down proteins. Xylanase  - Breaks down xylan, a type of cellulose found in some plants. Betaine HCL - While not an enzyme, it is found in a lot of digestive enzyme supplements and used as a supplement form of stomach acid.  Ox Bile - While not an enzyme, it is found in a lot of digestive enzyme supplements. It is used as a supplemental source of bile acids. How are digestive enzyme potencies measured? Traditional digestive enzyme supplements employ a variety of measurements, and unfortunately, many companies use different measurements for the same enzymes, resulting in considerable confusion. These types of enzyme supplements should not just use milligrams as a measurement of enzyme potency, as that only shows the weight, not how much enzyme activity you will be getting. For example, Bromelain 500 GDU and Bromelain 1500 GDU are very different potencies, but if it was labeled in milligrams, it would look the same on the label, and you would not know which strength you are getting.  Alpha-Galactosidase - GALU (Galactosidase Units) Amylase - DU (Dextrinizing Units) Bromelain - GDU (Gelatin Digesting Units) or FCCPU Catalase - BU (Baker Units) Cellulase - CU (Cellulase Unit) DAO (Diamine Oxidase) - HDU (Histamine Digesting Units) Glucoamylase - AGU (Amyloglucosidase Units) Hemicellulase - HCU (Hemicellulase Units) Invertase - INVU (Invertase Activity Unit) or SU (Sumner Units) Lactase - ALU (Acid Lactase Unit) Lipase - FCCFIP (Federation Internationale Pharmaceutique) Maltase - DP (Degrees of Diastatic Power) Nattokinase - FU (Fibrinolytic Units) Pectinase - Endo-PGU (Endo-Polygalacturonase Units) Phytase - FTU (Phytase Units) Protease-HUT (Hemoglobin Unit on a L-Tyrosine Basis) - Different proteases work in different pHs. Xylanase - XU (Xylanase Units) Many digestive enzyme supplements are not correctly labeled. How are digestive enzyme supplements made? There are varying ways that digestive enzymes are produced, depending on the type you get. The vast majority of enzyme supplements are produced via fungal and bacterial fermentation. This is how most digestive enzyme supplements are produced: Genetically engineered or naturally occurring yeast and bacteria strains that produce high levels of the desired enzyme are selected. These strains are then placed into large fermentation tanks or bioreactors. Many companies label their enzyme supplements as non-GMO, even though they were produced using GMO bacteria or yeasts, because the final product contains no GMO proteins. This is a dishonest practice that should be illegal. A culture medium is added to feed the bacteria or yeast being used, which can include substances such as sugars, nutrients, and other essential components needed for growth.  The conditions in the tank are tightly controlled to promote the efficient production of the desired enzyme. Once the bacteria or yeast have reached the desired level of enzyme production, they are separated from the culture medium, and the enzyme is extracted and purified. The enzyme is then further purified to remove all remaining traces of things from the culture medium and growing process. These steps can induce centrifuging, precipitation, and other methods. The enzymes are then packaged and stored for use in products such as food, pharmaceuticals, and supplements. Betaine HCL is made by reacting (not the perfect term, but it works here) betaine (either synthetic or extracted from sugar beets) with hydrochloric acid. It is then sprayed onto a carrier, usually polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), also known as povidone, a type of plastic. This carrier is not listed on the label when you buy betaine HCL supplements. Most people who take betaine HCL supplements are ingesting lots of microplastics this way without even knowing it.. Properly made betaine should use cellulose (plant fiber) as a carrier, not plastic; however, the process of making it is more expensive, so most companies opt for the plastic version. Bromelain is extracted from pineapples. These would be considered isolated enzymes as they are removed from the pineapple. Papaya enzymes are extracted from papaya. These would be considered isolated enzymes as they are removed from the papaya. Most pancreatic enzymes and pepsin are extracted from conventionally raised pig pancreases. These would be considered isolated enzymes as they are removed from the pig pancreas. Ox bile is made by extracting the bile from an Ox, drying it, and putting it into a pill. This should ideally come from cows raised using regenerative agriculture, but unfortunately, nearly all ox bile supplements are made from conventional cattle. Whole food enzymes should be made by low-temperature drying whole foods, milling them into a powder, and then encapsulating them into a pill. When made properly, they contain not just the enzymes, but also the other nutrients and compounds found in those whole foods.  Many companies sell enzyme supplements that claim to be whole food, but are anything but. Check out our blog article  to learn more about spotting fake whole food supplements. How to Use Digestive Enzyme Supplements Digestive enzymes should be taken with the first bite of a meal or snack.  Bile acid supplements, like Ox bile, should be taken with the first bite of fatty meals or before bed to support a healthy gut microbiome.  Betaine HCL should be taken halfway through a meal or after. ​It is best to consult your doctor to determine if you have low stomach acid, hypochlorhydria, and discuss whether HCl supplementation would be beneficial for you before starting its use. This is because it can have significant side effects if it is not necessary. Never open the capsule and put it in water or drinks, as this can cause damage to tooth enamel and esophageal irritation. Store digestive enzymes in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and moisture.  How to choose the best digestive enzyme supplement Depending on what type of digestive enzyme you are looking into, there are different things to look for. For betaine HCL supplements, it’s essential to choose those using cellulose as a carrier instead of povidone (plastic), which is the common carrier. Unfortunately, this is not something you can determine from the label, and it can require significant research to find out which companies' products use it and which don't, as most companies are unaware that this is an issue.  Due to shortages in the betaine HCl supply chain, numerous contaminated products are on the market because most companies do not perform proper quality control. Many have adulterations with foreign substances, but because these are newer adulterants, the identities of many of these substances are unknown. ​One theory is that it is due to the breakdown of the manufacturing containers, as HCl is highly caustic. Regardless of what they are, your betaine HCL must be free of these adulterants. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell from the label.  Many companies have convinced people that betaine HCL supplements must contain pepsin, or they will not work. This is entirely untrue, and in fact, pepsin should not be in the same pill as the betaine HCL because it will degrade the pepsin over time. If you need to use betaine HCL and pepsin, they should be taken in separate pills.  After extensive research, we found a high-quality betaine HCL supplement . It uses cellulose as a carrier, not povidone (a plastic), and is free of those unknown adulterants.  For ox bile and bile acid supplements, look for those that are produced from animals raised using regenerative agriculture practices. In addition, they should ideally be whole food, using the entire gallbladder, not just the bile, to get the broadest range of benefits. They should be gently freeze-dried and cryo-milled to preserve all of the beneficial compounds. Look for those made by companies that can trace the bile and gallbladder back to the farms they came from and produce the finished product themselves, from fresh organs to capsules. Many companies use enteric coating on their enzyme supplements, claiming it protects the enzymes from being damaged or destroyed by stomach acid. The problem with this is that most enteric coatings have awful ingredients, including plasticizers and parabens. Unfortunately, very few companies list the full ingredients in their enteric coatings, leaving many people unknowingly ingesting microplastics. A better solution for protection against stomach acid is to use DR (delayed-release) veggie caps or beef gelatin capsules. This provides the benefits of enteric coatings without the drawbacks commonly associated with them. We recommend avoiding enteric-coated supplements of all kinds, as you can never be sure you know all of the ingredients.  For traditional enzyme supplements, it’s important to look for those that: Use the correct measurements, not just milligrams Are not enteric-coated Are free of plastics and plasticizers Are tested for contaminants and adulterants Including chloramphenicol, a banned antibiotic found in a lot of enzyme supplements, because of the poor practices of certain suppliers. Are tested for potency using the correct testing methods - Not all testing methods are effective for the same enzymes. For whole food enzyme supplements, there are several important factors to consider. The first is that their labels will not resemble those of traditional enzyme supplements, as they will simply list the foods, not the enzyme measurements. Therefore, the quality of the food and how it was processed are extremely important to ensure that you are getting sufficient levels of the enzymes. Sourcing is critical. Nearly all whole food enzymes are going to be made from animal organs. So, how those animals were raised and how the organs were handled makes a huge difference. Look for those made using animals raised using genuine regenerative farming practices, not from conventionally raised pigs.  The company producing the supplement should obtain the organs directly from farmers and then manufacture the finished product itself. Middlemen should not be involved in the process. Unfortunately, most organ supplement companies don’t produce anything themselves; they slap their label on a product made and sourced by a giant, unseen manufacturing facility that buys organs from another facility and combines ingredients from a vast number of places. You want the organs to be non-defatted (i.e., with no fat removed), slowly freeze-dried, and cryomilled to protect all the important compounds. For a more in-depth look at how beef organ supplements should be made, check out our blog . Third Party Tested Digestive Enzymes A lot of companies advertise their digestive enzymes as being third-party tested. Check out our blog to learn whether third-party testing is the best measure of quality or if there are more important factors to consider. The best digestive Enzymes As with other supplements, we believe that whole food enzyme supplements are the best choice. All of our whole food digestive enzyme supplements are made from regeneratively raised ruminants in the Lake Eyre region of Australia. This is real regenerative farming! NXGEN Wholefoods buys the organs directly from the farmers and then uses a slow freeze-drying process and cryo-milling to produce the whole food organ powders. Then they are put into beef gelatin capsules and bottled. That’s it, the way it should be done. Third-party testing is done for pathogens. Heavy metals are tested randomly by the Australian Government at abattoirs and farms to protect the reputation of the Australian Beef Industry.  There has been no positive test for heavy metals at the abattoirs or farms that NXGEN Wholefoods sources from. Gallbladder with Ox Bile  supplies the whole gallbladder and Ox Bile. It is rich in c onjugated bile acids, including Cholic Acid, Deoxycholic Acid, Taurocholic Acid, and Glycocholic acids. In addition, it contains all of the naturally occurring nutrients and cofactors in those foods that help support its effectiveness.  Kidney  is one of the richest food sources of DAO (diamine oxidase). This is the enzyme that helps to break down histamine in the gut. It is also rich in selenium, vitamin B12, iron, zinc, vitamin A, and copper, which are important nutrients involved with histamine metabolism. Most DAO supplements are extracted from conventionally raised pig kidneys, which is something that is best to avoid because of how badly the pigs are treated and the amount of pollution caused by conventional pig farming. Pancreas  is a concentrated source of pancreatic enzymes, including amylases, lipase (and colipase, a cofactor protein for lipase digestion) , and proteases (including trypsin).  Most pancreatic enzyme supplements are extracted from conventionally raised pig pancreas, which is something that is best to avoid because of how badly the pigs are treated and the amount of pollution caused by conventional pig farming. Digestive Enzymes is our favorite broad-spectrum digestive enzyme. It contains a blend of enzyme-rich whole foods and all of their nutritional and compound components. Pancreas Supplies pancreatic enzymes, including amylases, lipase (and colipase, a cofactor protein for lipase digestion) , and proteases (including trypsin) Stomach (tripe) Supplies pepsin, lipase,  Ox Bile Supplies c onjugated bile acids, including Cholic Acid, Deoxycholic Acid, Taurocholic Acid, and Glycocholic acids. Duodenum Supplies maltase, lactase, and sucrase. Kidney Supplies DAO (diamine oxidase). Liver Rich in choline, a nutrient most people don’t get enough of, which plays a crucial role in digestion. Choline helps the body utilize and transport lipids, is an important food source for gut bacteria, and supports gut motility. Parotid (Salivary gland) Supplies amylase Digestive enzyme supplement questions and support If you have questions about our digestive enzymes, please email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com , and we will be happy to answer them!

IGYs are something most people have never heard of, but they are one of the most incredible supplements and one of my favorites. What is IGY Max? IgY, immunoglobulin Y, is a major antibody found in birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Mammals, including humans, produce immunoglobulin G. Immunoglobulins play a key role in the immune system. IGY Max is a specially produced version of IGY, hyperimmune egg, from chicken eggs. Chickens pass the immunity they have down to their eggs. IGY Max is a potent, whole-food supplement backed by extensive research. How is IGY Max made? IGY Max is made by inoculating chickens against twenty-six specific human-relevant pathogens.  Shigella dysenteriae Staphylococcus epidermidis  Staphylococcus simulans Escherichia coli Escherichia coli (Aerobacter) Salmonella enteritidis Salmonella typhimurium Pseudomonas aeruginosa Klebsiella pneumonia Proteus vulgaris Propionibacterium acnes Streptococcus mutans Streptococcus pneumonia Streptococcus agalactiae Streptococcus salivarius Streptococcus mitis Streptococcus sanguis Haemophilus influenzae  Streptococcus pyogenes, type 1 Streptococcus pyogenes, type 3 Streptococcus pyogenes, type 5 Streptococcus pyogenes, type 8 Streptococcus pyogenes, type 12 Streptococcus pyogenes, type  14 Streptococcus pyogenes, type 18 Streptococcus pyogenes, type 22 After inoculation, the chickens develop antibodies to these pathogens. Then they pass these antibodies along to the eggs they lay. The eggs are collected, and then their antibody levels are monitored. Eggs with sufficient levels of antibodies are then cracked open, pasteurized, and gently dried and milled into a powder. This powder is then bottled or put into pills. That’s it! How does IGY MAX Work? I want you to imagine your gut as a garden and think of IGY Max as the gardener. It’s creating healthy soil (gut environment), pulling out weeds (bad bacteria), supporting the growth of pollinators, worms, and beneficial microorganisms, and helping the plants grow stronger (good bacteria). If you want a more in-depth dive into how IGY Max works, click the button below to download the IGY Max white paper. IGY Max Benefits IGY Max offers numerous incredible benefits. The first is that it supports a healthy microbiome, with a balance of good and bad bacteria, and here’s how it does that: It supports healthy zonulin levels, which support a healthy gut lining, and here’s how it does that: It supports healthy cytokine levels, and here’s how it does that: It supports a healthy immune system. Most people think they should stimulate their immune system, but this is a mistake for the vast majority of people. An overstimulated immune system can cause just as many problems as one that is suppressed. Think of the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. You want your immune system like that just right bowl of porridge, not too hot, not too cold. It supports healthy DAO production. DAO is the enzyme that helps to break down histamine in the gut. How to take Igy Max IGY Max should be taken with cold food and beverages. It can be mixed into various foods, such as applesauce, water, juice, and smoothies. Don’t mix it with hot food or beverages. We recommend consuming at least 4.5 grams (4,500 milligrams) per day, or as directed by your healthcare practitioner. For intensive use, 4.5 grams can be taken twice per day.  The full effects of IGY Max can take time to kick in, so it is essential to use it daily for at least three months to get the full benefits. To get the most out of your IGY Max, the Happy Gut Equation is your friend. For oral health, dissolve one gram of the powder in one ounce of water. Mix it up and gargle it for 20 seconds twice a day. You should not use IGY Max if you are allergic to eggs.  IGY Max should be stored in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight and moisture. IGY Max versus regular eggs We often get asked why someone can't just eat eggs to get the IGYs, and it’s certainly a reasonable question to ask. Regular eggs have much lower levels of IGY than the specialized eggs used to make IGY Max. Additionally, they lack the antibodies that IGY Max eggs possess. So regular eggs would not work the same, no matter how many you ate.  IGY versus IGG We are often asked about the difference between IGY and IGG (sometimes referred to as SBI or serum bovine immunoglobulins). The first is that IGY is found in birds and IGG in mammals. IgY antibodies have twenty times more immunoglobulins per unit than IGG. IGY Max does not carry the risk of stimulating the human complement system or inflammatory cytokines, unlike IGG, which can sometimes do so. IGY Max does not cause the constipation that some people can get on IGG. It is also much more affordable, costing about 30-40% less. Fake IGY Supplements Due to the growing popularity of IGY Max supplements, several companies have been selling supplements that contain regular powdered eggs, but claim to offer the benefits of properly made IGY supplements. As mentioned above, regular eggs do not have the same benefits. It’s essential to know that your IGY supplement is made with eggs that have been produced the correct way and are tested for their levels of antibodies to the list of pathogens above, as well as that they contain significant amounts of active IGY, so you get the benefits. As always, you should avoid buying your supplements on Amazon and other sites that allow third-party sellers to avoid counterfeit and improperly stored products. You can read more about this issue  here . What to look for in an IGY Max Supplement The first thing is dosage. It’s important to choose a product that provides a significant amount. Products with only a small amount are unlikely to have the efficacy you are looking for. It might look good on the label to have a small amount for marketing purposes, but what matters is effectiveness. Don’t fall for fairy dusting ! Ensure that the product contains IGY Max, not just claims of hyperimmune egg or whole egg powder, etc. It needs to be the exact version that contains the antibodies; otherwise, it’s not going to have the benefits. Avoid products that contain lots of sweeteners, flavorings, and additives. None of that is needed to produce a good IGY Max supplement, and most of those no-calorie sweeteners are not good for gut health, the very thing that most people are taking IGY Max for. Moss Nutrition Gi Globulin Our favorite IGY Max supplement is Moss Nutrition Gi Globulin . Each scoop contains our recommended dosage of 4.5 grams, free from fillers, binders, flavorings, sweeteners, and additives. For those who prefer pills, these capsules  are a great option. It’s important to know that IGY Max is a very fluffy ingredient, so it takes about nine of those capsules to get one scoop of the Gi Globulin powder.  IGY Max questions and support If you have questions about IGY Max, email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com , and we will be happy to answer your questions. Don’t forget to check out our Gut Health Center  for lots of great tips on keeping your gut healthy.

Emu are large flightless birds that are native to Australia. Think of them as an angry ostrich. The Karen of the bird world, if you will. They are a member of the Ratite family. They can grow over six feet, weigh upwards of one hundred and thirty pounds, and have razor-sharp claws. They are modern-day dinosaurs. The Australian army tried to fight them and lost . That's not a joke. Enjoy reading about the emu war; it's a great rabbit hole to go down. What Is Emu Oil? Emu oil is derived from the layer of fat between the muscle groups and skin of both male and female emu. That felt is processed and turned into oil.  Emu oil has been prized for centuries for its rich nutrient content and fantastic skin benefits. The Aboriginal peoples in Australia have used it in countless ways for a very long time.  When emus are killed for food, the fat is used to make emu oil. Their fat is a byproduct, and emu is not killed just to make emu oil, despite false claims on certain websites that emu is only used for their fat. Nothing is wasted; the entire animal is used. Refined Versus Unrefined Emu Oil Before we get too much into all things emu oil, it’s important to note that there is a big difference between unrefined and refined emu oil. We define unrefined (for the purposes of this article) as leaving the naturally occurring full range of compounds and nutrients in the emu oil. Nearly all of the emu oil sold in the US is heavily refined, triple-refined, ultra-refined, or even six times refined (more is not always better). This strips out lots of the good stuff but makes it much easier for companies to store, package, use in cosmetics, etc. It’s also much cheaper than making unrefined emu oil. So that’s why it is so common. When we talk about all of the wonderful things in emu oil in this article, we are talking about UNREFINED emu oil. Don’t buy refined emu oil if you want all the amazing benefits and nutrients that emu oil has to offer. Unfortunately, it is hard to find emu oil containing all its natural compounds and nutrients in the way they occur in raw emu fat because it is not as profitable. For example, it is much easier to put ultra-refined emu oil into a softgel than unrefined emu oil because it flows more freely. How is emu oil Made? Emu oil is typicaly made in a just a few ways. This is the most common way refined and ultra-refined emu oil is made: The fat is rendered and then filtered. Then, the oil is filtered with clays or treated with powerful solvents (you don’t want these particular ones in your oil) at high temperatures and pressure. The impurities (many of what are considered impurities are compounds we would consider beneficial, but they make the oil harder to work with for cosmetic companies), pigments (same as with impurities, many of these pigments have benefits, we don’t want them removed), and bacteria are absorbed into the clays or solvents and then removed through filtration. Next, the oil is vacuum deodorized to remove even more compounds for ultra or triple-refined oils.  Removing bacteria is good, but we don’t want lots of good stuff stripped out. We are not fans of doing things just because it makes it more profitable and easier for corporations. We think there are better ways of making emu oil, which we will discuss later. Several companies claim to sell cold-pressed or cold-processed emu oil. Emu fat is not like olive oil; it cannot be cold-pressed. Any company claiming to sell cold-pressed emu oil is full of it. Emu fat must be rendered to make the oil. We think there are better ways of making emu oil, which we will discuss later. Where does emu oil come from? Emu oil can come from various countries, but genetics is a huge factor (but not the only one) in whether or not you get the best emu oil.  Most of the Emu in Canada and the US (where most emu oil sold in the US comes from) are descendants of old zoo stock from the 1960s. The inferior genetics of these birds are very different from those in Australia, and the emu oil produced from them is not nearly as potent as Australian oil. This is because Australian farmers and researchers have spent decades working to have their emu flocks produce fat that matches the fat of wild emu, which produce the highest potency oil. This was done through specialized diets, husbandry, and breeding practices. In the US and Canada, breeding focused instead on producing birds with the most meat. This results in a very different oil, which is far less potent, but there is a lot more profit per bird because of the increased amount of meat.  What do Emus Eat? What the emu eat greatly impacts the nutrient density and fatty acid profile of the oil. Emu should be allowed to roam freely and eat their natural diet, including a wide array of young plants, fruits, seeds, insects, small reptiles, mice, and more. They even eat some stones to help with digestion. Emus are basically big chickens when it comes to diet and will eat a wide variety of foods. We even saw one company advertising emu oil made from emu that only ate vegetarian feed, which is a terrible idea. All farm-raised emu will have their diet supplemented with some feed. The problem comes when, instead of being allowed to range freely, they are given a diet of primarily corn, which results in an oil much higher in omega-six instead of omega-nine. In addition, that diet will result in lower levels of vitamin k2. Truly free-range emu is best, with supplemental feed that is more than just corn. Emu kept in warmer climates will be able to spend more time foraging. Meanwhile, emu kept in cold climates will have a more feed-based diet.  Look how they stare into your soul, plotting your downfall. Emu harvesting  Another important factor in the quality of emu oil is when the harvesting is done. A lot of companies do it at one year of age before the emu are sexually mature. Emu that are young and have not gone through a breeding season will have lower levels of nutrients and beneficial fatty acids. However, emu are fully or nearly fully grown at one year, so it’s cheaper for companies to harvest them at one year of age, so that’s what most companies do. Emu should be harvested at three years of age to get the most potent and beneficial oil after the emu has been through at least one breeding season.  Advantages of emu oil Unrefined Emu oil is packed with important fatty acids and nutrients. It contains the following fatty acids: Myristic Acid  Palmitic Acid  Palmitoleic Acid  Stearic Acid  Oleic Acid  Conjugated Linoleic Acid Linoleic Acid Linolenic Acid The fatty acid profile of unrefined emu oil will vary from season to season as the emu's diet changes with the seasons, depending on what forage is available to them. When the emu are fed correctly, emu oil is low in omega-six. Unfortunately, most emu are not fed properly, which creates an oil with more omega-six and less omega-nine than it should have. Many fatty acid profile claims on emu oil labels are based on old information from reference material, not the actual fatty acid profile of the oil you are buying. People consume far too much omega-six in their diet , and it’s not a good idea to supplement with lots more of it. Many companies claim emu oil to be a good source of omega-three, but this is not the case. Emu oil contains very little omega-three, and it is in the form of linolenic acid, an omega-three precursor, not the EPA and DHA we need. It should not be considered an omega-three supplement. It would be more accurate to call it an omega-nine supplement. Unrefined emu oil also contains small amounts of vitamins A (as retinoids), D, and E.  Emu oil and vitamin K2 Unrefined emu oil is well known for containing vitamin K2 in the mk-4 form. Vitamin K in food comes in three main forms.  K1 - As found in green vegetables. K2 as Mk-7 - This is found in fermented foods like natto and tempeh, as well as most vitamin K supplements. K2 - Mk-4 - Found in grass-fed aged hard cheeses (like good Parmigiano Reggiano), organ meats , and fish roe . Unrefined emu oil is one of the richest food sources of the Mk-4 form of vitamin K2. This form is much more potent than the other forms of vitamin K. Unfortunately, it is primarily found in foods that most people don’t eat much of or at all. We call the Mk-4 subform of vitamin K2 the grass-fed vitamin because organ meat, fatty meats, whole milk, eggs, and fat from grass-fed animals provide the best source of K2 Mk-4. These animals convert the vitamin K1 in the grass into vitamin k2 Mk-4. Claims of vitamin k2 content were one of the biggest problems we encountered when evaluating emu oil products. We have serious reservations about the testing methods used by a number of well-known labs for vitamin k2 in emu oil and whether they are accurate or correct ways to test the vitamin k2 content of emu oil. Many foods or plants may have a nutrient, but different testing methods may be required to measure that nutrient. Some foods may have compounds that can inhibit normal detection methods that work well for other foods, which must be considered with the vitamin k2 content of emu oil. It's not the same as testing vitamin k2 in natto or tempeh or k1 in a vegetable. At this time, we are not confident of many companies' claims for vitamin K2 content in their emu oil. Some companies are using claims based on old reference materials, which are in many cases inaccurate, and using them to say how much k2 is in their oil; they are not actually testing the vitamin k2 content of their emu oil. In addition, the amount will vary from season to season and year to year because of changes in the emu's diet. We have seen k2 claim amounts from several companies, which are much higher than what would naturally occur in emu oil. We do not believe this to be because of dishonestly on the part of those companies (we could be wrong on this; some of the companies may be being less than ethical)  but because of issues with the testing methods many labs are using. So, while we know vitamin K2 Mk-4 is present in emu oil, we will not make claims about the vitamin K content until we feel confident that the testing methods and results are accurate. Sorry for how long this blog is. Enjoy this emu playing peekaboo as a token of my thank you for reading! emu oil for the skin Unrefined emu oil is wonderful for the skin and hair. The unique blend and ratio of fatty acids are deeply moisturizing and soothing for the skin.  You don’t need to worry about unrefined emu oil turning your skin oily or triggering a breakout to rival your teenage years. Emu oil is quickly absorbed, doesn’t feel greasy when applied, and is non-comedogenic, so it doesn’t block your pores. When applied to the skin, it does not leave an oily or sticky feeling but instead sinks into your skin with super speed.  It is fragrance-free, gentle enough for a baby, and perfect for the most sensitive skin. Unrefined emu oil can separate, which can reduce its effectiveness, so make sure you shake the oil well before use.  Applying emu oil to your face: We recommend applying emu oil at night after your usual cleansing routine for oily or combination skin. You can use emu oil on its own or layer it over your regular moisturizer for an added boost of hydration. For dry skin, we recommend using a couple of drops of emu oil at night and on top of your daytime moisturizer. You can wear it under your makeup without clogging pores or affecting makeup application. Applying emu oil to your body: The easiest way is to add a few drops of pure emu oil to your bath water. If bathtubs aren’t for you, you can also apply emu oil to damp skin after you shower (for enhanced absorption). Add a few drops onto the palm of your hand and moisturize from top to toe. Apply it to your hands, feet, and anywhere between before sleeping.  Here are some great ways to use unrefined emu oil on your skin. Chapped lips Ditch the petroleum-based chapsticks and use emu oil instead. The soothing and moisturizing effects of the emu oil work fast. Tattoo and piercing aftercare You may think the pain is worth it during a piercing or tattoo; but what about afterward? Your skin may be very irritated, flaky, scabby, or itchy around the piercing or body art area. It may be tempting to pick or scratch at it, but it will only worsen it. Instead, use a few drops of emu oil on the affected skin three times or more daily. Dry and cracked winter heels In winter, with the dry air, our heels may become dry, flaky, and cracked. The deeply moisturizing nature of emu oil is what that skin needs. Place your feet in warm water for ten minutes. Take them out and apply the emu oil while they are still damp. Before bed, apply the emu oil again. Do this daily, and in no time, you can say goodbye to those unsightly cracked heels. Sore nose and upper lip Sometimes, our noses run a lot in the winter, and we blow them a lot. This can lead to dry, chapped skin and soreness around the nose. Use a few drops of emu oil three times or more daily and watch things turn around. Chapped face because of the cold air and wind Emu oil has you covered. Apply 2-3 times a day, and your skin will be happy again before you know it. Dry skin patches Apply a few drops of emu oil three times per day and watch that dry skin disappear. Dry outer ear Sometimes, the outside of our ears can dry in the winter. Massage a drop or two of emu oil into the area 2-3 times daily. Massage oil Emu oil is deeply penetrating and makes an excellent massage oil. You can also add your herbal oil to it, as it works as an excellent carrier. Hair and scalp oil Is your hair or scalp feeling dry and frizzy? Massage in a bit of emu oil after showering each day. Bug bites and stings Unrefined emu oil is wonderfully soothing and works quickly. Joint massage oil Massage emu oil into your joints and the area around it for two minutes at a time, three times a day. Babies Emu oil is wonderful for soothing and nourishing a baby's sensitive skin. Apply as needed. Perfect after a bath. Pets Emu oil is great for dogs and cats. Does your pet's skin, paws, or nose need extra support? Emu oil is safe for pets and makes an amazing moisturizer for these spots needing extra care. Apply three times a day in the beginning until desired results are achieved, then once daily for maintenance. This oil has so many amazing uses; the sky is the limit! How do you use emu oil supplements? While emu oil has a lot of uses topically, it’s also great to take as a supplement. First, make sure you shake the bottle well. Emu oil has very little taste, so it is easy to take. You can take it with a spoonful or mix it into cold foods and beverages. Alternatively, capsules are a great option if you cannot stomach the thought of taking an oil. It’s important to use it daily at the full dosage and take it for enough time to get the best results. It can take up to twelve weeks for the full effects. Emu oil does not need to be stored in the fridge after opening. It is best stored in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and moisture. As always, talk to your healthcare practitioner before starting any supplements. What should you look for in an emu oil supplement? There are many important things to consider when choosing an emu oil supplement or topical oil. Care for the animals It’s important that the company either owns the farms from which they get the oil or monitors them closely to ensure the animals are well taken care of and treated. Diet It’s important that the emu are allowed to eat their natural foods at a free range and that their supplemental feed is balanced so it helps to create a fat profile that matches wild emu as closely as possible. Testing The oil must be tested for impurities, contaminants, and rancidity. Color of the oil The best emu oils are cream to light yellow. You’ll find that when the weather is a little colder, or if you’ve kept your oil in the fridge, the oil will solidify and will be harder to get out of the bottle (this can happen to the capsules, too – they look white and cloudy when it's cold). Alternatively, when the weather is warm, the oil will come out easily and have a nice golden color (or clear, depending on the light!). If your oil is white and thick, don’t panic – it’s still safe to use and hasn’t gone ‘rancid’. All you need to do is rest your oil bottle in a warm water bowl for about 5 minutes, shake well, and use as normal. Australian source Look for emu oil that comes from Australia, from farms that carefully monitor the flock's genetics. Unrefined and properly processed Look for unrefined emu oils that contain the full range of beneficial compounds, nutrients, and fatty acids. Farm-to-bottle Look for emu oil companies that manufacture their own oil and control the process from the farm to the oil production process. Most emu oil companies don’t make their oil or have relationships with the farms and have a contract manufacturer bottle it and slap their label on it. You don’t want that kind of emu oil. Emu Spirit Emu Oil Finding a great emu oil supplement was a lot like the fairy tale with the princess, who had to kiss a bunch of frogs to find her prince. We found a lot of emu oils that claimed to be awesome and had great marketing, but when we started to dig into them, they were anything but.  After kissing a lot of frogs, we were lucky to come upon an amazing Australian company that checked off all of our boxes.  Emu Spirit’s  emu oil products contain the synergistic activity of all aspects of emu oil, including its temperature-sensitive omega fatty acids. They are one of only a very, very small number of emu oil companies that control all stages of production, from farm farming of the emus to the processing and rendering of the fat into pure oil at their Melbourne-based manufacturing facilities. A true farm-to-table emu oil. They are a great partner for our Farm-To-Bottle Project . They are certified by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). This is a much stricter standard than the US FDA GMP standards. Their emu are sourced from licensed Australian emu farms that they partner with and carefully monitor. The emu are free-range, and in addition to whatever they forage, the diet is supplemented with a non-GMO feed. They are not given growth hormones or antibiotics. They only use three year old emus that have gone through a normal breeding season to ensure the most potent oil.  They have a patented rendering process, Oiltek, exclusive to their emu oil. It was developed by a world-leading oil chemist. It creates a stable, 100% pure oil that maintains the same structure and nutrient profile as raw emu fat. For example, it preserves the vitamin K2 (as mk-4) content. It is much gentler and without the drawbacks of modern emu oil processing. We are so excited to partner with them to provide this incredible emu oil. Emu oil questions and support If you have questions about emu oil, please email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com , and we will be happy to help! He's so proud of you for finishing the article!

The number of times we are asked about methylene blue per day is astonishing. I don’t know who started the craze for it, but they are marketing geniuses.  It is being promoted as a cure-all for whatever ails you. You name a health condition or issue, and someone is out there claiming it can help with it. What is Methylene Blue? Methylene blue, also known as methylthioninium chloride, is a synthetic dye that was first developed to stain and inactivate certain microbes for laboratory work. Over time, additional uses for it were discovered. What is methylene blue used for? It currently has several uses in medicine and science. The first is that it is used intravenously as a treatment for a rare blood disorder called methemoglobinemia. This is a condition in which the blood loses its ability to carry oxygen throughout the body. It is also used as an antidote to cyanide poisoning. It acts as a dye or stain to allow objects to be seen more easily during medical procedures, as well as having several uses in surgical settings.  One thing to keep in mind when considering methylene blue or other ingredients is that studies in mice or rats, as well as in test tubes and petri dishes (in vitro), should not be used to make claims about what might happen in humans. Lab studies and animal experiments can be a good starting point, but they are no means a guarantee that those effects will be seen in live people, and as is most often the case, the effects are not shown in people. It’s essential to examine studies conducted on live people, in vivo, rather than in test tubes and lab animals. We have seen numerous studies being quoted by websites and proponents of methylene blue that were not conducted on humans. In addition, there will always be studies that are not well done, which show benefits for a wide variety of things due to flaws in methodology or interpretation. We should only consider those studies that were conducted rigorously and were done correctly. Methylene blue benefits Methylene blue is highly beneficial for individuals with   methemoglobinemia and has numerous applications in various medical procedures. It also has numerous valuable applications in medical laboratory work and scientific research. While many health benefits are claimed, there is no properly conducted research on humans to support these claims. Human clinical studies have, in fact, often shown the opposite. For example, a  study  by the University of Texas at Austin (which claimed that methylene blue might be good for cognitive health) found an eight percent decrease in cerebral blood flow. This would not be beneficial for brain health. It’s essential to evaluate studies conducted on live human beings, rather than research performed on cell cultures and test tubes. Many things can occur in a test tube that cannot happen in a person—the same thing with lab animal studies.  It’s easy to find test tube or lab animal studies to support any position on any health topic. They should not be relied on to say that’s what will happen to a live person. Anecdotal claims of short-term benefits, such as increased energy, do not mean that something is providing tangible benefits. Lots of things can boost energy levels in the short term, caffeine, cocaine (why does it smell so good?), etc, but that does not mean that it comes without side effects or provides any real benefit.  Methylene blue dosing There is no properly done research on what a safe or effective dosage of oral methylene blue capsules and liquid drops might be. Any suggested dosage is just a guess. You cannot apply research done on an injectable dosage of something to an oral dosage of that compound. There are several factors involved in the digestion and metabolism of a compound that are bypassed when it is injected. Anyone claiming a dosage based on a study done on an injectable compound, for an oral version, is being very dishonest or needs to open a biology textbook. Methylene Blue Supplements Most people are not aware that it is not legal to sell methylene blue as a dietary supplement. That’s why many products are labeled as 'for research purposes only' or 'not for human consumption.' It has no GRAS status, generally regarded as safe (self-affirmed or otherwise), and no dietary supplement NDI. Many methylene blue products proudly proclaim that they are pharmaceutical grade. Pharmaceutical grade is not a regulated term and can be put on any supplement. It means nothing.  Another notable concern is that many methylene blue supplements are contaminated with formaldehyde. That’s not something you need to be ingesting. Methylene Blue Risks Methylene blue is not a harmless substance, and it comes with a ton of risks. Did you know that it is considered quite hazardous if it contaminates drinking water? "Industrial dyes are one of the dominant chemicals that make water unfit for drinking. Among these dyes, methylene blue (MB) is toxic, carcinogenic, and non-biodegradable, and can cause a severe threat to human health and environmental safety. It is usually released in natural water sources, which becomes a health threat to human beings and living organisms." The first set of risks is drug interactions. It has a lot of severe ones.  Antidepressants, especially MAOIs. It can cause serotonin syndrome, which can be fatal. Blood pressure medications It can cause blood pressure to go up or down, which is very dangerous Stimulants and ADHD medications Antipsychotic medications It can cause psychotic episodes In people who have a specific genetic disorder, G6PD, they can develop a severe type of anemia that can destroy red blood cells. It can cause hallucinations, tremors, other neurological problems, jaundice, nausea, fever, upset stomach, breathing problems, light sensitivity, and a host of other side effects that are too long to list. Methylene blue is a serious medication, should not be sold as a supplement (and legally cannot be), and is not something that anyone can buy at the store or online. It should only be used under a doctor’s supervision, with careful monitoring, for a very specific and narrow range of uses. Should you use Methylene Blue? I understand that many websites and influencers are portraying methylene blue as safe and beneficial for various purposes, making it seem very alluring. However, your safety should come first. Since it’s illegal to sell methylene blue supplements, there is no well-done research showing benefits from them; they come with significant risks for health problems and side effects, so we would not recommend using them. Methylene blue is an example of something that was hyped due to the opportunity for numerous companies to make a quick profit, but many people will suffer as a result. Please don’t use it! Methylene blue questions and support If you have questions about methylene blue, please email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com , and we will be happy to answer them!

Manuka Honey is made from the nectar of the flowering Manuka trees, a tree native to Australia and New Zealand. The Manuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium) has a white flower, sometimes tinged with pink. How IS Manuka Honey MADE? Manuka trees bloom from about mid-December to mid-January. The hives are moved to the area just ahead of the start of the flowering of the Manuka trees so the bees are in place and ready to forage as the nectar becomes available. ​ Honeybees forage for nectar when the weather is good. Warm temperatures, with daytime highs in the 70s, and nighttime lows above the mid-50s, are required for the plants to present nectar at the flower. Rain or high winds can keep the bees from getting out to forage, so weather conditions are critical during the 4-6 weeks that the Manuka is typically in flower each year. ​ Bees forage specifically for the nectar of the Manuka flower to make honey. Pollen is also collected as a food source and stored separately from the nectar. Forager bees collect the nectar and pass it on to younger hive bees upon returning to the hive. It begins by moving the nectar to honeycomb cells, depositing it along with the enzymes the bees produce. The incoming nectar is about 70% water, which must be evaporated down to 20% or lower to turn the nectar into honey. The nectar is mostly sucrose, which is broken down by the bee's enzymes into glucose and fructose. ​ The bees evaporate most of the moisture from the honey by rapidly beating their wings over the honey cells, aided by the warm temperatures (95 degrees) within the hive. Then, as the honey is dried, the bees produce wax and cap the cell to prevent it from reabsorbing moisture, thereby protecting it from mold and preventing fermentation. The flowering, weather forecast, and the progress of the honey-making in the hive are closely monitored through the summer. Then, when the timing is right, the process of moving the hives out of the Manuka sites and harvesting the honey begins. Manuka honey adulteration As demand for Manuka honey has skyrocketed, so has the proliferation of quality control and adulteration issues. ​ T here are many types of Manuka honey adulteration, such as adding colorants to make the honey appear a specific color, corn syrup, cane syrup, beet syrup, rice syrup, honey from flowers other than Manuka, and many more. ​ Honey is the world's third most adulterated food product; it would take a whole book to go through all of the issues and history of honey adulteration. ​ In addition, often, the country of origin of the honey is mislabeled. Check out the documentary series Rotten on Netflix; the first episode is about honey; it is an excellent way of understanding many of the issues surrounding honey. ​ By far, China is the number one supplier of adulterated and mislabeled honey in the world . Check out our Farm-To-Bottle Project to learn about the importance of true traceability. ​ THIRD PARty tested manuka honey Many manuka honey brands claim to be third-party tested. It's important when evaluating manuka honey test results that you know what it should be tested for and that the correct testing methods are being used. Most people don't know what it should be tested for or how it should be tested. We will address that later in the article. Not every batch may measure the same potency, one of many reasons you should not trust a company that tests one batch and uses that test result for all of their batches. There will be differences from year to year. ​ There are a lot of problems with third-party testing. Check out our blog to learn why we don't recommend relying on it to know if a food or supplement is good quality. Manuka honey in glass jars Most manuka honey is packaged in soft plastic to save money on shipping and packaging costs. While many of these soft plastics claim to be BPA-free, they often have other components that can be just as unhealthy. We contacted a number of companies selling Manuka honey in plastic, and none of them properly tested their containers to make sure there was no leaching. Avoid buying manuka honey and other liquid foods and beverages in soft plastic containers. Manuka honey labeling terms - MGO, NPA, DHA, UMF, AND MG Labeling of Manuka honey products can be very confusing, and finding a properly labeled one can often be like looking for a needle in a haystack. ​ Often seen on the labels of Manuka Honey products are abbreviations or terms such as MGO (Methylglyoxal), NPA, DHA UMF, MG, and others. ​ Some companies have even started making up fake certifications and measurements that have no real meaning, such as "Bio Active 15+", "High Active," "Active 15+," or "K Factor 16," which are intended to make you think they are certified or tested correctly, but in fact, they are nothing more than words and numbers on a page created by the company. Just because a jar says Manuka Honey and lists lots of fancy numbers or terms does not mean it is a good product. Marketing can conceal a lot of issues with a product. What is mg/mgo and UMF So what do various measurements and numbers mean? ​ There are only two legitimate ways to label Manuka Honey: MG/MGO or UMF. ​ MG/MGO (Methylglyoxal) - Manuka honey should either be labeled with the actual MG test results (in mg/kg) or with a correlated rating on the UMF (Unique Manuka Factor) scale. The UMF trademark must be on the jar if they use a UMF rating instead of the actual MG test result. ​ Honey labeled with the UMF logo and rating is also tested for two additional chemical markers (HMF & Leptosperin). The relationship between MG & UMF is as follows (after threshold HMF and Leptosperin levels are met): When you see anything else on a honey label purporting to be Manuka honey, you should steer clear. Examples of what continues to show up on labels include “Active”, “Bio-Active”, “Total Activity ”, “K-Factor ”, plus a number typically ranging from 5+ to 20+. When labeled this way, the company is trying to intentionally mislead the consumer into thinking they are getting a high MG (or legitimate UMF) honey when in reality they are typically getting a very low concentration, or low activity (i.e., low MG value) honey. The label must use the MG/MGO (or Methylglyoxal) letters on the label, or it is not an actual measurement of that. Active 15+ - Not a regulated term (great marketing, though) and can be put on anything. It does not disclose the actual MGO or UMF levels. KFactor conveys the purity  of honey by measuring the percentage of pollen in it, which is manuka pollen. It does not measure MGO and UMF. KFactor is a great marketing term, but it is not a measure of a honey's potency. Manuka honey is the ONLY honey in the world with meaningful levels of MG. The amount of MG in a Manuka honey determines its value. If your honey has low levels (or no levels) of MG, it really shouldn't cost you more than any other table honey. ​ DHA (Dihydroxyacetone, different from the essential fatty acid DHA found in fish, Docosahexaenoic acid) - Dihydroxyacetone is slowly converted to MGO in honey. The higher the DHA content, the longer the life of the MGO content in manuka honey. ​ NPA (Non-Peroxide Antibacterial Activity) - This is present in many types of honey, the NPA activity of Manuka Honey is measured by its MGO activity. Non-Peroxide Activity (NPA) values are not directly measured by the lab but are calculated from the measured methylglyoxal concentration in the honey. The calculation is based on published data comparing the NPA and methylglyoxal concentrations measured in a range of honey samples. These calculated values do not imply that the honey is or is not manuka honey. Companies listing NPA instead of MG or MGO activity could be mixing several types of honey, so it is not a good idea to rely on this measurement; stick to looking at the MG/MGO measurement. Listing NPA activity on the label is another trick companies often use to make Manuka Honey appear more potent than it actually is, or to cover up a product with very low levels of MG/MGO. HMF (5-hydroxymethylfurfural) : High levels of HMF can indicate that a honey was heated or stored for an extended period of time. How to use Manuka Honey Here are some suggestions on how you can enjoy Manuka Honey: Add it to your tea or coffee as a healthier sweetener Spread it on your toast or crumpets Drizzle it over your porridge or cereal Pair with a mild goat's cheese or soft brie Take it directly off the spoon to soothe the throat. Use for general health and wellbeing Externally: Apply topically to irritated areas. DIY face mask for radiant skin. Ingredients: 1-2 tablespoons of Manuka honey Instructions: Cleanse your face thoroughly. Apply an even layer of Manuka honey to damp skin. Leave on for 15-20 minutes. For maximum benefits, you can leave it on for up to 30 minutes. Rinse off with warm water and pat your skin dry. Follow with your favorite moisturizer or facial oil to seal in the moisture. If your manuka honey crystallises or becomes too thick, liquify it by placing the jar in warm water for 15 minutes. This is a natural process and attributes to pure, raw unprocessed honey. Do not heat manuka honey above 40°C as this may reduce some of the benefits. Not for infants under one year of age. Store your manuka honey in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. How to choose the best manuka honey As with sourcing any product, the first and most important thing to consider is how it affects the people growing or harvesting it and the environment. No matter how good a finished product is, if it causes suffering to the people producing it or damages the environment, it is not worth it. There is no reason to compromise on these areas. Corporations often try to make us feel as if we need to choose. They are wrong. We should never sacrifice our ethics to save a few dollars or make things easier. ​ When it comes to Manuka honey, it's important to know exactly where it comes from. Knowing who cares for the hives and harvests the honey is the only way to find out if the honey is produced ethically. If companies are buying from many suppliers and mixing honey from middlemen, you will not be able to find out the ethical practices of the individual apiaries. If the honey is blended from various suppliers or vendors, there is simply no way to track this. You want to buy honey from companies and apiaries that do not use antibiotics, corn syrup, or overwork their bees. You also want to make sure that they are not spraying the land where the bees roam with harmful pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides. Rooted Nutrition is proud to support the worldwide effort to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are slowly killing bees worldwide. ​ In addition to supporting charities and groups that are working towards saving the bees, we strive to buy and sell herbal and other food supplements grown and harvested without using these pesticides. ​ While you may not always be able to know whether the foods you buy are grown without these pesticides, there are some simple, everyday steps you can take to reduce the use of these. ​ Number one, never buy chemical treatments or weed killers for your yard and gardens that are based on these chemicals. Number two, urge your local hardware and garden supply store to stop selling products containing those ingredients. There are many environmentally, bee, and kid-friendly ways to keep pests out of your yard and garden. Number three, do not buy plants that have been treated with them. Unbeknownst to many, garden centers often sell plants treated with these chemicals prior to sale. Always ask before buying. ​ Don't forget to plant flowers and plants that bees and other pollinators love. Even consider starting a bee garden. There are lots of ways you can help bees. ​ With the collapse of bee populations worldwide, knowing that you are only buying honey from companies that are good stewards of the bees and the planet is so important. ZEA manuka honey We searched for a long time to find a source of Manuka honey that met our standards for ethics, sustainability, quality, and efficacy. After a lengthy search, we finally found a small company that did everything right and had the most incredible tasting honey. Their model aligns perfectly with our beliefs. Zea Manuka Honey is ethically harvested from the nectar of hives scattered throughout the pristine wilderness of Flinders Island, Tasmania, in the untouched Manuka bush. It is third-party tested for DHA, MGO, and MHF. Click the button below to download a sample test result. The beehives are not near areas of synthetic pesticide and herbicide use, as they are deep in the manuka brush. The hives are consistently inspected to ensure they are free of disease, and the queens are strong. Did you know a single, healthy hive can grow from 10,000 bees in the winter to over 50,000 bees during the flowering season? The bees are not given unneeded antibiotics and are not treated with harsh synthetic chemicals just to increase production. The bees are not fed corn syrup or foods that are not part of their natural diet. It is incredibly important that any company producing honey or other bee products treats its bees well and takes good care of them. ​ The raw honey is cold-extracted and bottled in glass jars (not cheap soft plastic). ​ Manuka Honey has tremendous potential to help so many people. However, that promise can only come to fruition if a product is pure and potent. If you want to experience all of the nourishment that Manuka honey offers, you need to ensure you are getting Manuka honey that's made properly from hive to bottle! Manuka honey Questions and support If you have any questions about our Manuka honey,  please  feel free to email us at  info@rooted-nutrition.com ,  and we will do our best to provide you with  the answers you need.

Welcome to the incredible world of mushrooms. Mushroom supplements are a hot topic right now, but just like everything in the supplement industry, there is a lot of confusion, false advertising, and companies looking to do whatever they can to pad their profit margins. This topic is very large, so you may want to get a snack and settle in. A fantastic mushroom I found while foraging in my hometown, Fomes fomentarius, commonly known as horse hoof fungus. What should you look for in a mushroom supplement? There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a mushroom supplement. Which is better, the fruiting bodies or the mycelium Where is it grown? Is it ethically produced? Should you choose mushroom supplements made from wild-harvested or cultivated mushrooms? What are the mushrooms grown on? Is it properly tested? Should mushroom supplements contain beta-glucans or alpha-glucans? What percentage of polysaccharides should your mushroom supplement contain? How is your mushroom supplement made? Should you use a mushroom extract supplement or a whole mushroom supplement? Which delivery format is best, pills, powders, or liquids? Which mushroom is best for your health goals? Anatomy of a mushroom To understand mushrooms, it’s vital to learn the anatomy because a lot of confusion has been created over it, especially the mycelium. The three main parts are: The mycelium This is the part that you usually do not see. If you flip over a log and see white patches, that is often mycelium. Think of mycelium as you would the roots of a plant. These tiny filaments grow throughout whatever the mushroom is growing on, breaking it down to supply nutrients so the mushroom can produce a fruiting body and spores. The spores The spores are like the pollen of the mushroom world. The fruiting body releases them. The spores then germinate and form mycelia. Then when two compatible mycelia find each other and grow together (the mushroom equivalent of love and marriage), they will sometimes grow a fruiting body. However, not all mushrooms grow fruiting bodies. The fruiting body We commonly think of the fruiting body as mushrooms, which you would buy at the grocery store if you got some mushrooms for dinner. This is the part that grows above ground. Think of it as the flower of the mushroom world. This is where the important compounds and nutrients are found in sufficient quantities. Mushroom Supplement Sourcing As with any other food, where and how they are grown matters greatly, not just for your well-being but the lives of the people producing it and the planet's health; most people have very little idea where and how the mushrooms in their supplements are grown. ​Mushroom supplements, just like any other, must be sourced from clean raw materials. It must be ethically sourced, not just free of contaminants and appropriately tested. You cannot separate quality from ethics. How can something be a good product if someone suffers from producing it, or if that material leads to massive environmental pollution? The truth is that it cannot. China is the largest (by far) grower and supplier of the raw materials used in mushroom supplements. The problem with this is the huge amount of adulterated mushroom powders coming out of there. You can often buy the dried, extracted powder for less than the whole mushrooms. With all the steps needed to make an extract powder, there is no way it could be cheaper than whole, dried mushrooms. What happens is that the powders are cut with rice, cocoa, flour, and only the good lord knows what else. Does that mean you cannot get good-quality mushrooms out of China? No, but it is a huge problem trying to figure out which ones are adulterated and which ones are not due to increasingly sophisticated methods of adulteration. Not all of this should be blamed on Chinese companies; often, the companies buying the ingredients are demanding such a low price that the only way to produce the ingredients at that price is to adulterate them. A little-known issue that arises is that many mushroom supplements claim to use mushrooms grown in the United States, but they are really from China. Let me explain. A common practice is the importation of inoculated logs from China. Logs are inoculated with spores in China and allowed to reach the mycelium stage, then they are frozen and shipped to the United States, and the fruiting bodies are harvested, which is significantly cheaper than growing them from start to finish in the United States. It is completely illegal to label these as grown in the USA, but companies do it anyway. I cannot stress enough the importance of truly knowing who grows or harvests the mushrooms that go into making your mushroom supplement. Another common sourcing issue is chaga. Most chaga supplements use chaga sourced from Siberia. Buying Chaga from Russia means giving the Russian government money while they commit untold atrocities in Ukraine . Until that situation has been fully corrected, we recommend avoiding products made with Russian Chaga. Previously, we had sourced wild mushroom extracts from the US. Mushrooms are very sensitive to environmental pollution. Due to the weakening of US environmental regulations, there will be significantly more pollutants in the environment, which will, at some point in the near future, lead to mushrooms with higher levels of contaminants. For this reason, we recommend choosing wild mushroom extracts produced outside of the US. Wild Versus Cultivated Mushroom Supplements Mushrooms raised indoors in greenhouses do not form the symbiotic relationships with the forest that wild mushrooms do. Exposure to stressors such as pests, competition, and harsh weather creates beneficial compounds and constituents that are either absent or present in only small amounts in mushrooms grown in sterile greenhouses. This is similar to what happens with many plants . We recommend choosing mushroom supplements made from ethically and sustainably wildcrafted mushrooms whenever possible to get the most benefits from them. This means a few things. Care would be taken to ensure that the local mushroom populations are protected and not overharvested. Mushrooms would be carefully harvested to protect the mycelium growing underneath, so the mushrooms will continue to spread and grow. Certain mushrooms, such as agarikon, take a long time to grow. These should not be harvested off the trees; only those that naturally fall to the ground should be harvested. These sustainable harvesting practices can only be verified if the mushrooms used to produce the supplements can be traced back to the places from which they were foraged and the people who harvested them. Should mushroom supplements be grown on wood or grain? If you have ever harvested certain mushrooms in the woods (turkey tail, lion’s mane, reishi, maitake, chaga, etc.), you probably noticed that they always grow on wood. Wood is the food source for these potent mushrooms (except cordyceps, which prefer insects like caterpillars). Some even grow on specific trees like Chaga, which grows on birch, and hemlock reishi, which grows on hemlock trees. Wood contains high levels of lignin, the ideal food for mushrooms. In addition, mushrooms grown on various types of wood can produce different types and amounts of beneficial compounds. For example, Chaga produces high levels of certain compounds, like betulinic acid, because of what it gets from the birch trees. Growing it on grain or other trees will create chaga without those compounds and benefits. Unfortunately, the vast majority of mushroom supplements sold in the United States are produced using mushrooms or mycelium grown on grain. Fully developed mushrooms do not come out when the fungus has only rice to eat. Mushrooms need food with a wide C:N ratio - meaning, they need high carbon materials. The fungus can live on rice, but it won't generate a fully developed mushroom in all its glory, at the best primordia (highly condensed mycelium preparing to produce a mushroom) or undeveloped/undernourished mushrooms.    Mushrooms grown on grain do not produce as high levels or the diversity of beneficial compounds that mushrooms grown on their preferred food source, wood, do. For example, mushrooms grown on grain will have higher levels of carbohydrates and lower levels of beta-glucans than those grown on wood. Growing mushrooms on rice or tapioca starch can never replicate the effects of growing mushrooms on wood. Always choose mushroom supplements made with mushrooms grown on wood. Wild-grown mushrooms are exposed to stressors, like insects, fungi, and diseases, that greenhouse-grown mushrooms are not. When plants and fungi are exposed to stressors, they produce higher levels of compounds to protect themselves through a process called xenohormesis. This means that wild-grown mushrooms will contain higher levels of a variety of secondary compounds. Since mushrooms in greenhouses tend to have lower amounts of secondary compounds, a lot of companies have tried to convince people that only one compound is important, such as beta-glucans. That is far from the truth, so don’t fall for it. Each mushroom has a broad range of beneficial constituents, not just one. While chronic stress is bad for us, a stressed mushroom makes for a better mushroom supplement. Should mushroom supplements be made from the fruiting body or mycelium? If you were in the forest harvesting mushrooms, you would not harvest the mycelium, as it would be nearly impossible to get more than a tiny amount, and you would destroy the mushroom's ability to reproduce and most likely damage the local ecosystem. The fruiting body, aka mushroom, contains the highest levels of nutrients and compounds found in the mushroom, from beta-glucans and selenium to triterpenes. Mycelium contains some of these compounds but in tiny amounts, not enough to have any effect. It does not have all of the compounds in the fruiting bodies, though. An excellent example of this is chaga (which technically does not have a fruiting body or mycelium because it is a fungal sclerotium, but the fruiting body is the commonly used term). Chaga contains a powerful antioxidant called melanin . This is not present in mycelium products and grain-grown “Chaga.” That is why liquid “Chaga mycelium extracts” are clearish or tan instead of the black color that correctly made chaga extract is. Chaga is symbiotic with the birch trees it grows on and requires certain compounds to form beneficial constituents. It will not get any of those compounds from some grain in a greenhouse. Yet, most mushroom supplements are made with mycelium, not the fruiting body. Many companies and people, including the biggest, most well-known name in mushrooms, claim they are the best way to make a supplement. This means that most products sold as mushroom supplements contain no mushrooms. So, how are mycelium products made? First, a starch is cooked and then sterilized. After that, it is inoculated with the mushroom of choice, at which point the culturing process begins. This is what it looks like before it is ground up: Those bags of partially digested starch are not what should be in a mushroom supplement, but unfortunately, that's what most "mushroom supplements" are made of. That block consists almost entirely of partially broken-down starch (rice, tapioca, etc.) and a small amount of mycelium. It is ground into a powder to be sold as is or encapsulated. Products made this way contain upwards of eighty percent or more starch. Even if a liquid extract is made from this material because such low levels of beneficial compounds are present, it will have little to no benefits. These are starch supplements, not mushroom supplements. Despite the companies ' claims, there is no history of traditional use of products like this, and there are ZERO properly done human clinical trials showing benefits from this type of product. One company touts a study by the Department of Defense as proof that the product has benefits. This was just a petri dish study, showing how applying the mycelium directly to specific pathogens killed or inhibited their growth. Thousands of compounds will do this in a petri dish or test tube, but that is not how things work in the body. Another study this same company likes to tout is an NIH study using their turkey tail mycelium capsules. What they don’t tell you is that partway through, their product was discontinued and replaced with a turkey tail extract because it was not working. These products have the highest profit margin, so you can imagine why companies love to sell them. They cost virtually nothing to make. These companies then sell the fruiting bodies to restaurants and stores. Mycelium products like this are nearly pure profit because this starch is a waste product of the mushroom growing process. It should be used as compost, not sold as a supplement. A second claim these crude mycelium sellers like to make is that there are prescription products in Japan made from mycelium. This is true. However, these products are highly purified and processed to isolate certain compounds. They are not just ground mycelium. They are conflating two very different products to sow confusion and make their products look better than they are. Lastly, they claim that when the mycelium breaks down the starch, they create beneficial compounds not found in the fruiting body. This is true to a point. However, the amounts made are all so tiny that they would not be anywhere near the levels to provide benefits. It is just a marketing claim. In addition, those compounds would be present in the starch, not the mushroom, so it is just another way of saying they are selling starch supplements, not mushroom supplements. One very well-known company even likes to claim its mycelium supplements contain arabinoxylan. Arabinoxylan does not exist in mushrooms but primarily in grasses and grains. This is more evidence that these companies sell grain and starch supplements, not mushroom supplements. Always choose mushroom supplements made from the fruiting body. This is our take on the old Reddi Whip versus Cool Whip, oil, or cream commercials. There is a test you can perform at home to see if your mushroom supplement is full of starch. Open four 500 mg capsules or put one two-gram scoop of a powder into two ounces of water and shake well. Add five drops of Lugol's iodine (5% solution) . If there is a lot of starch, it will turn purple. Mushrooms do not contain this kind of starch, so if it does not turn purple, then you know it is not full of starch. This does not mean it is a great product, but it is a good way to tell if you bought mushrooms or starch. Mushroom Supplement Manufacturing The process of making a mushroom supplement makes all the difference. Many terms are thrown around, such as heated, extracted, dual-extracted, triple-extracted, hot water extract, alcohol extract, tincture, and more, which can make it confusing. Depending on what you are looking to get from your mushroom supplement, different methods will be needed. There is no single preparation that can address all the different needs that people have. Mushroom cell walls are made of a material called chitin. This is similar to the material that lobster and shrimp shells are made of. As you can imagine, this makes them very hard for our bodies to break down. To get the compounds that support a healthy immune system, the chitin must be broken down. It is not enough to heat or grind up the mushrooms. Crude ground mushroom powders will not provide bioavailable beta-glucans because those are trapped inside the chitin. To liberate the beta-glucans, the mushrooms must be put through an extraction process. Different methods must be used to extract different compounds because not all solvents extract the same compounds, and some methods require a lot of heat, which can damage other constituents. The best way to ensure a full spectrum of compounds that support a healthy immune system in amounts that will provide benefits is for a company to produce products that utilize a combination of extraction processes. We call this dual extraction. So, how is a dual extract made? Step one would be an alcohol extraction. This extracts temperature-sensitive compounds such as terpenes and a fatty-acids. Step two would be a hot water extraction. Think of this as a super concentrated version of tea. This method extracts other compounds, such as branched-chain beta-glucans, which require a significant amount of heat and time to be extracted properly. Step three combines these to form a full-spectrum extract, ensuring you receive all the benefits that mushrooms offer. After that, they would be packaged in dark glass bottles to protect them from light, which can damage the extracts. These dual-extracted mushroom supplements are the most potent and effective way to take mushrooms. Some people are looking for mushrooms for their prebiotic (food for your good bacteria) or nutritional benefits (mushrooms are rich in selenium and other nutrients). A dual-extract would have very little of those prebiotics remaining. In this case, a whole fruiting body powder or capsule would be best. These should be gently freeze-dried and milled into a powder. Avoid spray-dried mushroom powders and pills because spray drying involves very high heat, which can damage fragile constituents. It also requires the dried powder to be sprayed onto a carrier, which many companies do not list on the label of their products, and contributes to the weight. A spray-dried powder that claims to have one thousand milligrams of mushroom per serving lists the weight of the carrier and the mushroom together, so you cannot know precisely how much mushroom you are getting. Make sure you choose the right preparation for your health goals. In all cases, avoid mycelium products as they are going to have enough of any of the compounds you are looking. What's the problem with mushroom coffees? What about mushroom coffee products? While these have become super popular, they have several big issues. The first is that they simply don't have enough of and/or the right type of mushroom preparations to be effective. With the way coffee is made, it's not going to extract the beneficial compounds well enough to give you enough of them to be effective, and if you are using a whole mushroom powder for prebiotics and nutrition, getting enough of a high-quality powder would make your coffee taste awful. Mushroom coffees are essentially a marketing gimmick. If you want mushrooms in your coffee, it's best to take a high-quality dual-extracted liquid and add some to it. That way you know you are getting a full dosage and it won't overwhelm the taste of your coffee. While they seem cool, they are not a great combination. Mushroom Supplement Quality control and testing Proper quality control and testing are important for any supplement, including mushrooms. In addition to the basics (heavy metals, fungal and bacterial contamination, pesticide, herbicide, fungicide residues, adulteration, etc.), mushrooms need specialized testing for their constituents. This is where it gets tricky. The most well-known compound in mushrooms is called beta-glucans, which are non-starch soluble polysaccharides. This compound is found in all of the usual mushrooms used as supplements, as well as each having a host of other compounds that give each mushroom a unique profile and a different set of benefits. There are different types of beta-glucans and polysaccharides in many mushrooms, grains, and other foods; some have benefits, and some do not. Many companies will put a percentage of polysaccharides on the label of their mushroom supplements. You will see claims of 40, 60, or even 80% polysaccharides. Well, that sounds amazing; the more, the merrier, right? Wrong! Many polysaccharides have no beneficial properties, so it’s just a very effective marketing tactic. You could have a product with 1% beneficial polysaccharides and 49% with no benefit. An example of this would be alpha-glucans. Alpha-glucans will show up as polysaccharides in a lab test, but they are not found in mushrooms (in any more than a trace amount); instead, they are found in many grains. Nearly all mycelium products will have a good percentage of their polysaccharides as alpha-glucans because of the grains on which they are grown. Alpha-glucans do not provide the same benefit as beta-glucans. Never, ever judge a mushroom supplement's potency, quality, or potential benefits by the amount of polysaccharides listed, as it tells you very little about a product and is not a reliable measurement. It is essential to drill down a little further. There are several types of beta-glucans, but not all of them have the same benefits. Many beta-glucan label claims may not be what they appear. “β-Glucan obtained from bacteria and algae shows a linear structure whereas β-glucan extracted from yeast, mushrooms, oats, and barley exhibits branched structure.” The beta-glucans with a branched structure provide a place where the immune system can “hook on” (definitely not the technical term) and allow the immune system to use them. They are sometimes referred to as beta-glucans 1,3 and 1,6. Beta-glucans with a linear structure have no place for the immune system to “hook on” to, so they do not have the same benefits. That is why it’s essential to know which beta-glucans are present, not just the levels of beta-glucans While there have been some breakthroughs in mushroom beta-glucan and polysaccharide testing, most companies use older tests that are inaccurate, incomplete, or easy to cheat. Unless you have extensive knowledge of mushroom testing methodologies and know how to interpret the test results to see if the right tests were used (which very few people do), it is best not to rely on them. Third-party tested mushroom supplements You should be very careful about relying on third-party test results, as many of them are from labs that use poor testing methods or are often faked. To learn more about the problems with third-party testing, check out our blog . Rooted Nutrition's head of research. How should Mushroom Supplements be labeled? The labeling of mushroom supplements is one of the areas of most confusion. Unfortunately, there are a huge number of mushroom supplements that have labels that lead people to believe that things are in the products that are not actually in them. There are strict labeling requirements surrounding mushrooms; unfortunately, they have not been enforced. Mushroom mycelium grown in acceptable media is regarded as suitable for food use. Any food in which mushroom mycelium is used should be labeled to state that fact. Labeling should not suggest or imply that the food contains mushrooms. For example, a soup in which mushroom mycelium is an ingredient should not be labeled or sold as "mushroom soup" since that name by long consumer understanding and usage is preempted by soup containing real mushrooms. It is abundantly clear, with no wiggle room, from the above that mycelium only, or when the vast majority of the product is mycelium, products should not suggest or imply that they contain mushrooms. Any company selling mycelium supplements should not label them as mushroom supplements. Unfortunately, too many companies ignore these labeling rules and get away with it. It drives me insane! In order to be a mushroom supplement, it must be a majority-fruiting body product. Recently, a special type of petition has been filed with the FDA to hopefully get them to act on this issue. It is long overdue that companies misleading the public are taken to task and penalized for their actions. This product contains no reishi fruiting body, despite the labeling and images on the bottle. Who thinks that companies should be able to do things like this? Using The Right Type of Mushroom Supplement It's important to choose the right type of mushroom preparation to get the effects you are looking for. If you are looking to support a healthy immune system or get the antioxidants, compounds like triterpenoids, etc., you should choose the dual-extracted liquids. If you are looking for the nutritional and prebiotic (food for your good bacteria) benefits, you should choose the whole fruiting-body freeze-dried powders or capsules. Which mushroom supplement should you take? It can be confusing to know which mushroom to take. While each of them contains beta-glucans 1,3 and 1,6, each of their unique profiles of secondary compounds provides other benefits. It is important to match the right mushroom to your health goals. Always talk to your doctor before starting any supplement. Chaga (Inonotus Obliquus) is a wild sclerotium whose properties and intrinsic compounds are synthesized according to the unique nature of its parasitic relationship with living birch trees over time. You can’t have Chaga without it being wild. Any indoor propagated Chaga is merely an inferior lumpy mass having never been subjected to the back-and-forth stressors that are required to strengthen the mycological makeup of sclerotia; thus, it requires an everlasting biological battle between itself and a living birch tree’s immune system; to form what we know as Chaga! It is important to understand that there is fake chaga out there- mainstream brands sell it, and well-respected figures that some would call leaders in the mushroom world are selling it too. But it’s a gimmick; Chaga that does not come from the wild is not Chaga at all. It is materially different; it will not share the benefits that wild Chaga is well known for, and marketing it as such is completely wrong. Chaga contains high levels of antioxidants and terpenes. It also contains a unique compound, betulinic acid, which is formed when chaga converts the betulin found in the birch bark to this beneficial ingredient. If the Chaga is grown on grain or sawdust, it will not be rich in this. It must be grown on living birch trees to produce high levels of this compound. This triterpenoid has a wide array of benefits. It is also rich in other beneficial compounds, such as melanin and initidiol. Chaga is the best mushroom to use if you are looking for antioxidants. You should not use chaga if you are sensitive to oxalates or suffer from kidney stones. Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris) grows very differently from other mushrooms on this list. It is a parasitic organism that prefers to grow on caterpillars, wasps, and other insects. It infects them and eventually takes over the host, creating a zombie bug. In the past, we were able to source wild-harvested, dual-extracted cordyceps products, but unfortunately, we are no longer able to find a sustainable and ethical wild source of this mushroom. In many areas of the world where it grows wild, it has been overharvested, and we did not want to contribute to and make the problem worse. If you know of a sustainable source for wild cordyceps extract, we would love to know and will give you a nice finder's fee if it works out for us. Please email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com and let us know! There are some differences between wild Cordyceps and cultivated Cordyceps, despite companies saying otherwise. Wild Cordyceps is most commonly known as Cordyceps sinensis (although there are a few other Cordyceps species as well), and cultivated Cordyceps is Cordyceps militaris, despite some companies claiming to sell their cultivated Cordyceps as the sinensis variety. It is illegal to label militaris products as Sinensis, but once again, the FDA refuses to enforce the regulations, and companies continue to get away with it. One of the main differences (although there are plenty of others) is that wild Cordyceps have less cordycepin and adenosine than cultivated and more cordycepic acid and mannitol than cultivated. This is most likely due to the difference in what the Cordyceps is grown on and the growing environment being indoors instead of in the wild, exposed to stressors. Cordyceps contains cordycepic acid, cordycepin, and adenosine, which provide some pretty unique benefits, especially for supporting long-lasting energy. Unlike caffeine, cordyceps does not cause jitteriness and is non-habit forming. Cordyceps is the mushroom to choose if you are looking to support adrenal, lung, and kidney health, as well as healthy energy levels. Lion's Mane (Hericum erinaceus) is one of nature's most powerful nootropics thanks to its rich concentration of erinacines and hericenones. It also contains the compound NDPIH and its derivative hericene A. Lion's mane is the best mushroom choice for those looking to support a healthy brain and nerves. Maitake (Grifola frondosa) is one of the most well-known and studied mushrooms. It is rich in sterols and prebiotics. It is also being studied for its effects on the cardiovascular system and metabolic health. Maitake also contains an interesting glycoprotein that is being extensively researched. Maitake is the best mushroom choice for those concerned with supporting a healthy gut and metabolic system. Reishi (Ganoderma) has long been referred to as Lingzhi (The mushroom of immortality) in Chinese medicine. This mushroom's fruiting bodies contain unique compounds known as triterpenoids, which have a wide array of benefits. Triterpenoids may support a healthy cardiovascular system and healthy joints. One class of these triterpenoids, ganoderic acids, helps to support a healthy liver. It is very important to understand that triterpenoids are very bitter. This bitter taste stimulates certain digestive secretions, which provide some of the benefits. Unfortunately, most reishi mushroom supplements are made with mycelium and contain little to none of these beneficial compounds. If you have a reishi mycelium capsule at home, I encourage you to open it up and taste it; it will taste sweet, not bitter, because it does not have more than a trace amount of these beneficial compounds. Real reishi mushroom supplements taste very bitter because of the triterpenoids. Reishi is the best mushroom for those looking to support overall health and looking for a daily tonic to enhance overall health and vitality, as well as support healthy liver function. Turkey tail (Coriolus veriscolor) is the most well-studied mushroom by far. It contains two very important compounds PSK (polysaccharide K) and PSP (a unique protein-bound polysaccharide). These compounds support a healthy immune system and have been extensively studied. Turkey Tail is the best mushroom for those looking to support a healthy immune system. Avoid purchasing mushroom supplements with more than five species of mushrooms in them. While this may look good on the label, it means that there will almost never be enough of any one mushroom to get benefits. This is a classic example of the all too common practice in the supplement industry called fairy dusting . How to take mushroom supplements As with any supplement, the key to getting benefits is to take it daily and at the correct dosage. Consistency is the most important. Mushrooms are not something you can take once in a while and expect benefits. The longer you take them, the more benefits you can feel. Mushroom extracts are best taken in a dual-extracted, liquid form. We recommend taking four ml per day of the concentrated extracts and, if possible, splitting the dosage up throughout the day. They should be taken on an empty stomach, forty-five minutes before or two hours after eating. Don’t forget to shake them well! It is best taken directly in the mouth or mixed with a bit of warm, not hot or boiling, water. Whole mushroom capsules can be taken with or without food. Whole mushroom powders can be taken with or without food, and mixed with a food or beverage of your choice. Finding a good mushroom supplement company Finding companies that met all of our criteria for a good mushroom supplement was not easy. After a lot of searching and disappointment, we found some incredible companies. These companies produce their own supplements from wild-harvesting and farming through bottling. It is very rare to find companies that do this, but those are the kind we love. Vertically integrated companies like these form the backbone of our Farm-To-Bottle Project . Wild remedies Tasmanian Mushroom Extracts Wild Remedies produces incredible mushroom extracts from wild mushrooms harvested in the beautiful and pristine Tasmanian region of Australia. They harvest the mushrooms themselves and then make dual-extracts with them. They are careful to sustainably harvest the mushrooms to avoid the environmental issues that come from overharvesting. Their mushroom elixirs are made with premium spirits and natural spring water from the Tasmanian southern ranges.  After years of research and experimentation, they finally developed an empirically based method for extracting and preserving the bioactive compounds naturally produced in each mushroom. Ninth Path Mushroom Supplements Ninth Path Mushrooms organically grows its mushrooms in Australia. They produce dual-extracts and whole fruiting body mushroom powders and capsules, to help meet the different reasons that people use mushrooms, from supporting a healthy immune to prebiotics. Their whole mushroom powders and capsules are gently freeze-dried to preserve the full nutritional benefits. They do everything in-house, from growing the mushrooms to making the extracts and whole mushroom capsules and powders. This provides 100% traceability, from farm-to-bottle . They grow the mushrooms on hardwood with a small amount of organic soybeans. We also have a few other exciting mushroom companies and products coming soon! Finding the most incredible mushroom supplements was a vast undertaking, but we are thrilled to have found these amazing mushroom products. , Mushroom Supplement Questions and Support We know this is a lot of information, so if you have questions about our mushroom supplements, email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com , and we will be happy to provide you with the information you need.