First, there are many types of Astragaloside (Astragaloside I, Astragaloside II, Astragaloside III, Astragaloside IV, Astragaloside V, Astragaloside VI, Astragaloside VII, and Astragaloside VIII). Only Astragaloside IV has been determined to activate telomerase.
Per FDA regulations, if it does not state "Astragaloside IV" on the label, you are not guaranteed that you will get any Astral Fruit extract (Astragaloside IV), per FDA regulations. This is currently a product where the website states it has "a rare telemere agent Astragaloside IV" but when you examine the label of the product itself, it states "0.3% Astragaloside" and not "Astragaloside IV".
This product does not appear to have any Astragaloside IV, as the FDA requires this to be stated on the label, and the website has no COA to confirm it is "Astragaloside IV". We ask you to keep looking at labels to confirm what you are buying.
Second, We have independently tested our Astral Fruit product in the United States. We have it tested and insure that it's safe and that it contains a certain level of Astragaloside IV.
We have tested a few chinese suppliers, that have provided convincing lab results on paper, but never come through when tested in a United States independent laboratory.
Below is a sample of a batch that failed the Astragaloside IV test from the American Analytical Chemistry Laboratories of Illinois:
Rejected Batch:
http://revgenetics.com/PDF/Rejected_AstralFruit_COA.pdf
This is the COA of what we have approved for our initial product:
http://revgenetics.com/PDF/Astral_Fruit_COA_04232009.pdf
If you are buying Astral Fruit extract (Astragaloside IV) from anywhere else, simply verify and ask them for their independent lab result from a U.S. laboratory and not a generic COA that you cannot verify. The COA must have the name and address of the United States lab, as well as their contact information, address and phone number.
If you are just buying these rare supplements without an independent United States lab analysis, we truly believe you will simply not be getting what you paid for. At the very least, ask for one to verify safety.
Third, our product is specificaly formulated for higher absorption:
A study was performed on high purity Astragaloside IV, and this was hardly absorbed at all. This same study then used a combination of Astragaloside IV with Astragalus (Radix Astragali), which simply showed a much higher absorption rate over the pure Astragaloside IV[1]. A second study we reviewed, shows that the addition of chitosan, makes Astragaloside IV 30x-60x more absorbable as well[2].
Becuase of these studies, we have reformulated our Astral Fruit to have both Radix Astragali and Chitosan. This allows RevGenetics Astral Fruit to have an increase in absorption over our old formulation as well as any new supplements you will find that simply contain pure Astragaloside IV without the additional ingredients that could provide you a much better intestinal absorption.
[1]."Transport and bioavailability studies of astragaloside IV, an active ingredient in Radix Astragali." Gu Y, Wang G, Pan G, Fawcett JP, A J, Sun J. China (2004).
[2] "Absorption enhancement study of astragaloside IV based on its transport mechanism in caco-2 cells." Huang CR, Wang GJ, Wu XL, Li H, Xie HT, Lv H, Sun JG.
Thank you
Anthony Loera
RevGenetics
