With massive thanks to Carolyn, we have discovered that the Viridian Bromelain is processed using corn maltodextrin, despite the company telling me twice that it didn’t! I am gnashing my teeth about it, but we are used to getting wrong information from manufacturers who don’t really understand how their products are made, aren’t we?
It’s such a shame because Viridian is a good and ethical supplement company and I was pleased to be able to recommend one of their products.
Here’s the reply I got when I checked. Again.
“We do not add any fillers or binders to the final ingredients list, but there are certain ingredients which are processed by our raw material suppliers using elements such as maltodextrin. We have eliminated as much as is possible from our range of ingredients and continue to be vigilant.
With regards specifically to the Bromelain, for many years we sourced our material and were told that there were no additives whatsoever, then the allergens directive came into force and raw material suppliers were forced to reveal some of the hidden ingredients. We shifted a number of suppliers at this point.
Our bromelain being a liquid/sticky material was processed with a cassava source of maltodextrin, but most recently processed with a corn-derived maltodextrin. The natural products sector is a small player in many of these raw material markets and we carry little weight when it comes to insisting on certain processes.
The maltodextrin is used to create a dry, flowing powder which can be encapsulated. It would be impossible to create a pure bromelain capsule supplement as it would be too sticky to flow into capsules.
We do offer a 100% money-back guarantee on all our products and I am very happy to give a full refund to you.”
Not so easy for them, either, it seems, and I appreciate their honesty.
So, if you are currently taking this as part of the TGF protocol and are corn allergic, you can stop and ask Viridian for a refund. Contact Aimee Benbow via Aimee@viridian-nutrition.com who gave the above reply.
Meantime, Carolyn and I may have come up with an alternative product to assist digestion. This area of the protocol is proving by far the most difficult. Keep your eyes peeled as I am going to ask Carolyn to give us the results of her brilliant searching shortly, if she will. Carolyn, fancy giving us an expert response on this as you have done a lot of the recent legwork? Viridian, fancy helping us develop a safe absorption support product – papaya maybe?