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INGREDIENT STANDARDS

Our Ingredient Standards at LifeSeasons

We take great pride and care in how we select, source and test our ingredients for each of our supplements. We conduct extensive research on individual ingredients and develop formulas that work synergistically to deliver maximum potency. We are always on a quest to identify the best ingredients to help you maintain an optimum state of health.

How We Select Our Ingredients

Each of our supplement products are thoughtfully crafted. When we begin working on a new supplement, we make sure that we select ingredients that are at a clinically studied level. This ensures that they have a physiological impact on your body and that they are efficacious and successful in producing a desired or intended result.

With new formulas, we begin by talking about a health condition.  LifeSeasons VP of Product Development then leads our product development team, with over 150 years of combined experience in the natural product industry, including a biochemist and master herbalist.

Through a collaborative approach, they look at key ingredients we want to use, why the ingredients are chosen, what studies have been done on each ingredient, and where the ingredients have proven to be helpful in showing results.

Once we have identified our unique, synergistic formula and our biochemist has designed it, we then source our ingredients. We work with suppliers we have trusted relationships with and have worked with on other supplement products and begin sourcing the ingredients needed.

How We Source Our Ingredients

We source ingredients for each of our supplements at LifeSeasons from all over the world. Some of the ingredients we source are called branded ingredients due to either a patented process or having patented intellectual property regarding specific research and/or clinical trials for a given function.

When our product development team deems it more beneficial for the functionality of the formula, or more beneficial for the end result, to include branded ingredients on certain raw materials then we follow suit.

Some of the branded ingredients we source include Sensoril, Mirtoselect, BenfoPure, and Cholesstrinol HP.

Ingredient integrity is of paramount importance for LifeSeasons to assure we provide you with well crafted formulas to support you in your health journey.

How We Test Our Ingredients

We test all incoming ingredients for identity, potency and purity (microbial, heavy metals, etc).

Each ingredient is tested three times:

  1.  When we receive the ingredient
  2.  Throughout the manufacturing process
  3.  Once again with the finished product
LifeSeasons Botanist
Technology has come a long way, but there are still times that the human eye (and human brain) can detect things that a piece of scanning equipment may not catch. For that reason, we employ an experienced botanist who examines every batch of raw materials to detect any contaminants or adulterants.
When a particular ingredient becomes popular, there is a corresponding increase in unscrupulous suppliers ‘stretching’ that material with compounds that we don’t want in our product, including incorrect parts of the plant, cornstarch, and other fillers. Some suppliers are savvy enough to know what type of testing equipment is used by most manufacturers and what they can mix in to sneak under the radar. A trained botanist can detect these unwanted ingredients, reject that batch of ingredients, and refuse to work with that supplier going forward.

LifeSeasons’ Testing Process

Incoming Raw Material:  Botanicals Incoming Raw Material:  Botanical Extracts
  • Microbial testing on each incoming lot**
  • ID testing on each incoming lot
  • SSP for Heavy Metals on each incoming lot*
  • Microbial testing on each incoming lot**
  • ID testing on each incoming lot
  • SSP for Heavy Metals on each incoming lot*
  • SSP for Potency on each incoming lot*
Incoming Raw Material:  Chemicals Finished Products
  • Microbial testing on each incoming lot**
  • ID testing on each incoming lot
  • SSP for Heavy Metals on each incoming lot*
  • SSP for Potency on each incoming lot*
  • Microbial testing on each incoming lot**
  • ID testing on each incoming lot
  • SSP for Heavy Metals on each incoming lot*

* Statistical Sampling Plan (SSP) is implemented after the first 3 batches have been tested; it is implemented for logical increments, depending on the raw ingredient or product.

** Microbial testing consists of TPC (Total Plate Count), E-coli, Coliforms, Yeast & Mold, Staphylococcus, and Salmonella.

Further Ingredient Testing

We have also gone back ourselves and pulled our product off store shelves one year later or close to expiration date to test potency.

We did this with our Digestivi-T product which has a one-year expiration date. One of the ingredients in Digestivi-T is a probiotic which can be active. When this ingredient is active due to temperature or moisture, it ends up losing their efficacy.

Although we use a shelf stable probiotic in our products, we still pulled the product off a store shelf at about the time of expiration to test. This allowed the product to go through its normal process of being shipped and shelved.

We then tested it to ensure that when people are buying that product, even close to the expiration date, that what we state on the supplement facts is what you get, even when it gets close to the expiration date.

What happens if an ingredient doesn’t pass testing?

If an ingredient at our manufacturing facility fails to pass any one of our tests, we reject the entire batch. We have lost business and been out of stock on products due to rejection of ingredients coming in that are not at our standards. We have done this in the past and are willing to do it in the future at the cost of ourselves.

Best Ingredients, Best Formulas, Best Results

At LifeSeasons we live by the saying: Best ingredients, best formulas, best results. We believe that getting the best ingredients will make the best formulas, and ultimately, you’re going to get the best results.