Thorne Research Meta-Fem Basic Nutrients For Women Over 40 - 240 Vegetarian Capsules

The keystone of every nutritional product line is a multiple vitamin-mineral supplement. Thorne believes this is the starting point for every individual's supplementation needs and that these products should contain all the essential nutrients. Thorne also believes that by using the purest, most bioavailable raw materials – those without unnecessary additives and preservatives – every individual's outcome will be optimized.

Women who are peri- or postmenopausal need vitamins and minerals for maintenance of healthy bones, as well as specific nutritional support for hormonal changes they are experiencing. Meta-Fem is a complete dietary supplement for women of either peri- or postmenopausal age. It contains more calcium than our other multi formulas because women need more absorbable calcium and other nutrients that support good bone health. Meta-Fem features calcium citrate-malate (shown to be significantly better absorbed than calcium carbonate or oyster shell calcium*). Meta-Fem also contains 1,600 IU of pure vitamin D in a full daily dose to help maintain bone and immune health. Meta-Fem contains no iron, as the need for iron usually lessens as a woman enters menopause. If a woman in the perimenopausal period is experiencing abnormally heavy menses, it is recommended that she take Nutri-Fem or add a blood-building formula such as Ferrasorb.

In addition, specific nutrients and botanicals have been added with the special needs of this population of women in mind. Wild yam provides phytoprogesterone-like effects, while dong quai has been used in traditional Chinese medicine, along with other herbs, for the control of vasomotor symptoms of menopause. Hesperidin methyl chalcone is also included because of its potential to ease hot flashes. While these additions to Meta-Fem may lessen the occurrence of uncomfortable symptoms associated with menopause, it has been designed to be used in conjunction with Meta-Balance for additional menopause support.

• provides the active forms of folic acid – L-5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate and folinic acid in a balanced 1:1 ratio
• contains more calcium and magnesium in the highly absorbable citrate-malate form
• provides the active, readily usable forms of vitamins B6 and B2
• use in conjunction with Meta-Balance for additional support during menopause
• provides botanicals to support healthy hormone balance

Dr. Michael Lebowitz D.C. Recommends:
This is a multi-nutrient formula for women over forty. It has the ingredients of Basic Nutrients V with extra Calcium, Magnesium, and Pyridoxal 5'-Phosphate. It also has Dioscorea, Dong Quai, and HMC for optimal hormonal support and osteoporosis prevention.

Thorne Research's Mission
At Thorne Research, their mission is to enhance the health and well-being of people by providing superior dietary supplements that have the highest level of quality and purity – thereby creating the most respected and valued company in the dietary supplement industry.

The Thorne Difference.
For more than 25 years, Thorne has relentlessly pursued the highest possible quality and bioavailability in dietary supplements. At Thorne, they actually manufacture products that they sell – a key difference that allows Thorne to control every aspect of the manufacturing process and ensure that every Thorne product is in pure, completely hypoallergenic form, and without the common additives, flowing agents, and binders used throughout the industry.

A few other companies have tried to do what Thorne does, and many others claim to have the same philosophy and quality, but nobody has been able to duplicate what Thorne's clients call "Thorne Quality." Thorne has changed the industry in many ways over the past two decades, and they continue to raise the bar and set new standards in product formulation, raw material purity, manufacturing, and quality control.

Thorne's Commitment to Purity
Practitioners have become accustomed to seeing the vague "We use only the purest ingredients" in the promotional materials of almost every dietary supplement company. Perhaps these companies truly believe that. Perhaps they don't know any better. Nevertheless, Thorne Research, for more than 25 years, has been the standard by which companies in the industry are judged for product purity. Practitioners rely on Thorne as the company they trust for their extremely allergic, chemically sensitive, and immune-compromised patients.

Purity Takes Extra Effort
For example, instead of purchasing prediluted vitamin D, as other companies do, Thorne performs its own dilution to avoid detrimental ingredients, such as the preservatives or lactose that are found in many commercially available dilutions. Why must vitamin D be diluted? Because in its pure form, it is too concentrated to safely blend into a vitamin product. Pure vitamin D is 40 MILLION International Units (IU) per gram. The RDA for adults is 600-800 IU per day. To ensure proper mixing, it must be made into a dilute powder that flows and does not lose potency. So, unlike companies that use prediluted vitamin D that contains unacceptable excipients and preservatives, at Thorne, pure pharmaceutical vitamin D is first blended with pure mixed tocopherol vitamin E, and the resultant stable vitamin D is then blended with hypoallergenic cellulose powder. The final powder is blended in a large tumble blender and subsequently analyzed. Not only is the final product stable; it is also hypoallergenic and can be mixed homogeneously and at a safe level with other powders. Just as with vitamin D, Thorne utilizes similar processes for other raw materials, such as vitamin K, leaving it to other companies to purchase commercially available raw materials filled with unacceptable ingredients and preservatives.

Ingredients You Don't Want
Magnesium Stearate: Good for speed-hungry encapsulating machines. Not necessarily good for you. Manufacturing encapsulated dietary supplements isn't easy. Pure powdered ingredients are difficult to mix because they are either extremely dry, sticky with botanical oils, or attract unwanted moisture. So most manufacturers add magnesium stearate and other agents such as lactose and dextrose to make the powder flow quickly and easily through their high-volume machines. Problem is, these additives may compromise the bioavailability of the nutrients in the supplement, and might cause allergenic problems. At Thorne, they take a different approach.

Thorne will never utilize large fatty acid excipients in its manufacturing processes – ingredients such as magnesium stearate or stearic acid. These excipients are utilized as flowing agents to ensure that maximum productivity is obtained from capsuling and tableting machines. There are documented detrimental effects directly attributed to long chain fatty acids utilized as manufacturing flowing agents. Every qualified pharmaceutical compounder recognizes that large fatty acids, such as magnesium stearate, can interfere with product dissolution and influence absorption. Virtually all companies, because of the economic impact, ignore this data. As with most industries, the bottom line dictates the level of quality. The dietary supplement industry has one exception: Thorne Research, the company that does not compromise. Nevertheless, if a company cannot manufacture products without using detrimental excipients, they should not allude to being either "hypoallergenic" or "pure."

The Bottom Line?
Thorne is the only hypoallergenic dietary supplement manufacturer with the highest degree of purity that you – and your most severely allergic, chemically sensitive, and immune-compromised patients – can truly trust.

Quality Ingredients: A Higher Standard
At Thorne, they are committed to setting a higher standard of quality when it comes to ingredients. To produce their truly hypoallergenic encapsulated supplements, Thorne uses only the purest and finest ingredients available.

Every manufacturer has two basic options when purchasing raw materials: purchase either truly pure raw materials, or purchase raw materials to which substances have been added to facilitate manufacturing. This fundamental dilemma translates to these very typical questions: "Do I purchase pure vitamin C or vitamin C with additives?" "Do I purchase pure B vitamins or coated B vitamins for taste masking?" "Do I purchase pure enzymes such as pancreatin, pepsin, and bromelain or enzymes diluted with lactose?"

There are few commercial sources for vitamins B12, D, K, or biotin that are not diluted with substances such as lactose, cornstarch, and preservatives such as BHT. That's why Thorne developed methods that allow them to use pure, undiluted sources of these nutrients – and many others. It's just one more example that when it comes to quality, what everyone else accepts as an industry standard isn't good enough. While some companies say they are raising their standards....at Thorne they set them.