NOW Foods Coral Calcium Plus - 100 Vegetarian Capsules

NOW Foods Coral Calcium Plus contains an alkaline form of Calcium that can help to support a healthy serum pH. NOW Foods Coral Calcium Plus contains a number of trace minerals that are important for bone health, as well as for optimal enzymatic activity. NOW Foods Coral Calcium Plus is not harvested from living coral reefs or even from the ocean environment, but from above-ground sources in Okinawa in an ecologically friendly manner. In NOW Foods Coral Calcium Plus formula, Magnesium and Vitamin D have been added because of their essential role in bone metabolism.

• Healthy pH Balance
• Important for Bone Health
• Magnesium & Vitamin D for Bone Metabolism

Coral Calcium is mined from fossilized above-the-ground coral reefs off the coast of the islands of Okinawa, Japan. Coral reefs are made of massive structures made of calcium carbonate that is deposited by living things. Coral also contains about 74 different minerals. The combination of 74 minerals in an easily soluble form makes coral calcium a desirable mineral supplement for many.

Processing for a Quality Product: The NOW Foods' Quality Assurance and Quality Control Departments take much care to assure a fine quality coral calcium product. Fossilized coral is pulverized to an ultra-fine powder without any heat treatment. Heat treatment denatures the calcium crystals. The next procedure is the testing of heavy metal content. Heavy metal analysis of the NOW Coral Calcium shows:

• Lead is below 0.1 ppm (parts per million)
• Mercury is below 0.01 ppm
• Cadmium is below 0.05 ppm
• Arsenic is below 0.5 ppm
• Calcium averages 35%

This analysis indicates that the heavy metal content is quite acceptable and the product is safe to consume. The product is now shipped to the United States in ocean containers where it is put through a drying oven at a low temperature (180 degrees F).This process reduces the moisture of the product to less than 1%, which dramatically extends its shelf life. Coral Calcium is then sterilized by ozone chamber (non-toxic natural process) to meet the safety standards for human consumption. Finally, the product is analyzed for the content of 74 minerals and then packaged.

NOW's Mission
The NOW mission is - To provide value in products and services that empower people to lead healthier lives. NOW Foods is an award-winning and highly respected manufacturer of vitamins, minerals, dietary supplements and natural foods.

In 1948, with the natural food and supplement industry in its infancy, entrepreneur Paul Richard paid $900 for the purchase of Fearn Soya Foods—a Chicago based manufacturer of grain and legume-based products. This began a six-decade legacy of providing health-seeking consumers with high-quality, affordable nutrition products.

History of NOW
In 1968, NOW Foods was founded under the belief that good health was not a luxury available only to the wealthy. For the past forty years, NOW has made it their life's work to offer health food and nutritional supplements of the highest quality, at prices that are fair and affordable to all those who seek them. Today, NOW Foods is one of the top-selling brands in health foods stores, an award-winning manufacturer, a respected advocate of the natural product industry, and a leader in the fields of nutritional science and methods development. And while NOW has grown considerably over the past four decades, one thing has never changed – NOW's commitment to providing products and services that empower people to lead healthier lives.

:" ":hat NOW makes should be based on accurate information and therefore NOW places a high value on knowledge and learning within their organization. Quality and Value Oriented - Acting in the best interest of NOW customers, NOW endeavors to produce the highest quality products at competitive prices. NOW's first priority is to maintain quality where it counts the most – in the products. NOW's exceptional cost-conscious team of employees then focuses their energies on driving costs down. Nurturing this competency of value drives NOW's ability to provide high quality products at the very best prices. Natural is Better - NOW is convinced that natural products are better than their synthetic counterparts and produce better results in human health. Therefore, wherever possible, NOW strives to provide products that contain natural ingredients because they are better for their customers.

NOW Science
NOW's experienced professional and technical staff formulates their products to be of the highest quality. NOW has a group of biochemists, chemists, nutritionists, and food technologists who review current science and nutritional parameters, and formulate our products to be effective for the intended use. NOW's structure/function claims are based on science for active ingredients, and on nutritional science for nutritional content. Serving sizes are based on doses from clinical studies and other published data. NOW's contemporary formulas are designed to meet the health and wellness needs of today’s consumers. NOW uses ingredients that have been tested for effectiveness in clinical trials and laboratory studies. The heart of NOW science is third party independent research. NOW investigates and review clinical studies and other lab studies conducted on their ingredients and their formulas. Best science is used to support best formulations which lead to best quality. NOW products are constantly being tested in clinical trials conducted at top universities and research centers around the country and in various parts of the world. NOW products are being tested to determine such things as effectiveness for joint support, quality of life for cancer patients, cardiovascular support, and athletic endurance. Effective products mean health and wellness benefits, which mean quality.

GMP Quality Assured
NOW’s GMP certification covers standard operating procedures, employee training, product specifications, expiration dating, vendor certifications and much more. Standard operating procedures include sampling and testing incoming materials according to NOW Foods specifications, inspecting manufacturing processes, and testing finished products to specifications. Tests include organoleptic evaluation (human senses such as sight, taste, smell), physical testing of tablets and capsules, chemical identity of ingredients, potency and contamination testing by the company’s in-house state-of-the-art analytical testing lab, as well as microbiological testing by NOW Foods’ in-house rapid analysis microbiological lab.