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Supplements containing Magnesium Stearate - GI Disturbance?

Messages
85
Hi guys

Jus started a NEW BRAND CoQ10(150mg dose) and Zinc Gluconate(50mg dose) each morning along with other supps.

My problem is GI disturbance shortly after taking these supps ie slight stomach pain and as politely as I can put it, they go straight through me :|

Has anyone else encounted the same problem?
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
Zinc gluconate can cause all sorts of GI distress including diarrhea. I would try dropping it and seeing if the problem resolves.
 
Messages
85
Interesting, thanks.

The problem is I take the same dose in two other brands I use and I am fine.

Therefor the magnesium stearate is all I can narrow it down to as the problem?
 
Messages
2,565
Location
US
I knew someone who said magnesium stearate was really nasty stuff, and wanted me to read web links about how bad it is. So the info is out there somewhere. I often buy the better brand supplements with less additives, but sometimes I buy the cheaper ones. I would like to avoid it, but can't afford to always pay twice as much for supplements. I guess that some people can be sensitive to it, or to anything.
 
Messages
85
I knew someone who said magnesium stearate was really nasty stuff, and wanted me to read web links about how bad it is. So the info is out there somewhere. I often buy the better brand supplements with less additives, but sometimes I buy the cheaper ones. I would like to avoid it, but can't afford to always pay twice as much for supplements. I guess that some people can be sensitive to it, or to anything.

Yeah have found and read those through google, the problem being is its still inconclusive as to side effects after reading all I could. But I beleive as you put it some may react and some wont, in as many words. Hence I think the inconclusive manner of facts....

Understand. Had no idea regarding this additive well untill now. I think its woth spending the extra if your sensitive, maybe even if your not... as long as you have any sort of GI disturbance to start with. Lesson learned I guess...
 
Messages
85
Oh btw its main use in pills is as a lubricant for the pill making machines as they will run faster and cleaner for longer as MS is a type of fat
 
Messages
2,565
Location
US
Yeah, all these additives are a pain. Now I am wary of foods with vitamins added. I just realized this natural drink I like has folic acid added. Probably got to stop buying it. Some of us do badly on folate (and we have to take methylfolate) - IIRC. There is little I can buy that is affordable :(
 
Messages
85
Yeah, all these additives are a pain. Now I am wary of foods with vitamins added. I just realized this natural drink I like has folic acid added. Probably got to stop buying it. Some of us do badly on folate (and we have to take methylfolate) - IIRC. There is little I can buy that is affordable :(

The less additives the better Im thinking. Sux about the cost though. Yes some of us have problems converting folic acid into the active form so I guess that would cause issues. Have found taking supps with a large meal helps some. Its all fun and games ;)
 

merylg

Senior Member
Messages
841
Location
Sydney, NSW, Australia
I seem to be reacting to supplements that have Magnesium stearate as a coating agent. It's exacerbating my irritated gastrointestinal lining & also contributing to breathing difficulty. It also leaves an aftertaste in my mouth. When I am in this hypersensitive state I am also repulsed by the smell of it on tablets & in capsules.

Recently the things I have tried before realising this sensitivity were Solgar 50mg B2 Riboflavin & Biovea L-Tyrosine 500mg.
http://www.listmyfive.com/d1a158f6/The-Top-Five-Red-Flags-of-a-Magnesium-Stearate-Allergy
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
Has anyone else had problems with magnesium stearate? I've been spending a lot of money on supplements and I am wondering if taking them could be counterproductive if they have magnesium stearate.
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
A lot of manufacturers have it in their products. "Their" advantage to using it is that it keeps their machines from sticking and gumming up when they mass produce the caps or tabs. Apparently the culprit of not being so good for health is the stearic acid. Even good brands like Solgar and Jarrow seem to use it a lot in their products from what I've seen. I've seen some listed as "vegetable stearate" instead of "magnesium stearate" so you have to assume that is just as bad. Here is some more info on it....

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/06/23/whole-food-supplement-dangers.aspx

Even the LEF brand has it in some of their products. One would think if any one manufacturer would want to keep it out of all their products, it would be them.
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
Just to give the other side of the argument, this article is interesting (a lot more information in the article so click the link to read the rest)
http://www.wellnessresources.com/health/articles/the_facts_on_magnesium_stearate/
Magnesium stearate is a magnesium salt containing stearic acid. Stearic acid is an 18 carbon long saturated fat, common in our food supply. It is readily metabolized to oleic acid (the monounsaturated fat found in olive oil). Stearic acid is unique among all saturated fatty acids because it does not raise LDL cholesterol levels.
10% - 12% of cocoa is fatty acids of stearic acid, one of the richest sources of stearic acid in the food supply. It is easy to get 5 grams of stearic acid (5,000 mg) by eating a bar of chocolate. By comparison, a dietary supplement capsule product typically contains between 1% - 2% stearic acid or 10 mg - 20 mg of stearic acid per capsule, or 1000 mg to 2000 mg per bottle (20% - 40% of a chocolate bar for the entire bottle).
Stearic acid is also a common fatty acid found in meat, poultry, fish, grains, eggs, butter, and milk products. In meat, it is 1/3 of the saturated fat. The average intake of dietary stearic acid in American women is 5700 milligrams a day and in men 8400 milligrams a day. (Click here for general information on stearic acid.1)
My point is that the amount of stearic acid ingested in a vitamin product is a small percent of a fatty acid that you consume every day as part of your diet, a type of fatty acid that is not problematic in the first place.
 

triffid113

Day of the Square Peg
Messages
831
Location
Michigan
Randy's reference cites it's potential to interfere with digestion (which I had heard before from other sources), suppression of T-cells according to one study, and high pesticides in cottonseed oil, from which it is derived. It also points out that it is NOT stearic acid but magnesium stearate, so may not behave the way stearic acid on its own behaves. Anyway, stearic acid may be in chocolate but I'd rather eat it from chocolate than from pesticide laden cottonseed oil...for one thing I am not even getting any dietary pleasure or use out of the cottonseed oil, just pesticides!
 

PeterPositive

Senior Member
Messages
1,426
Just to give the other side of the argument, this article is interesting (a lot more information in the article so click the link to read the rest)
http://www.wellnessresources.com/health/articles/the_facts_on_magnesium_stearate/
Sorry to resurrect a pretty old thread.
That is a pretty interesting article. I was reading about this problem and found this paper about the immunosuppressive action of stearic acid on T cells: :eek:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1384169/

Apparently the effect is dose dependent. If one gets 10-20mg of stearic acid per capsule it doesn't look scary... but I am in the range of 20-30 tablets/capsules a day. Which is quite a bit. :(
 

helen1

Senior Member
Messages
1,033
Location
Canada
Thanks for this @PeterPositive.

I read both links with great interest and was convinced by first one then the next. It sure would be good to know if we should be making more of an effort to avoid mag stearate or not. Does anyone have any more info about it?