5.07.2010

Hmmm.....Just a thought

Malic Acid is a common ingredient in many nutritional supplements. I was looking at a product my sister in law was telling my mom & I about yesterday and there are 2 versions of this one supplement. One which contains Sucralose (Splenda which acts in the body the way aspartame does.) The other contains Malic Acid, and several other things which included natural flavors. We know that the listing of natural flavors can be a sketchy listing at times. I emailed the company and these natural flavors checked out as truly from the fruit natural. I also know from research that there are 2 forms of Malic Acid. d-Malic Acid & l-Malic Acid. l-Malic Acid is naturally occurring in fruit, which in my eyes is a suitable additive. d-Malic Acid however is synthetic (created in a lab.) This prompted me to email the company and find out which one they used. I received the email back and they use d-Malic Acid (the synthetic one.) I then of course checked the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) for d-Malic Acid & on everything I look at it said that it may be harmful if swallowed and can irritate the digestive tract. My question is how much of this is harmful. I would have to venture a guess that even in small doses this stuff can't be good.

My point in this is we need to really read labels and really ask questions. This stuff isn't listed the way it should be. Obviously the choice to use a synthetic version is because it's more cost effective. Don't ever be afraid to contact a company and ask. Call customer service and they can direct you where to go if they don't have the answer! That's what I did, and I discovered that this particular product is not something I would try and I will be informing my sister in law that it's not a good idea to recommend it to her Chiropractic patients!

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