What Is the Purpose of Yellow Beeswax in Vitamins?
Among the vitamins and minerals essential to daily health, many multivitamins also contain agents that help bind those vitamins and minerals together. One ingredient found in many multivitamin brands is beeswax.
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Subtypes
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Herbal information site Herbs2000.com indicates that there are three types of beeswax that are used commercially. These are yellow beeswax, bleached beeswax and beeswax absolute. Yellow beeswax is the least processed, and this is likely why yellow beeswax is used in vitamins.
Function
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According to an article at Natural Foods Merchandiser, yellow beeswax is often used to smooth out the texture of vitamins. It can also help lessen the stickiness of gummy or chewable vitamins.
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Benefits
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Some benefits to using beeswax in vitamins over chemical thickeners is that it is natural, so it is more easily absorbed by the body than something synthetic.
Possible Ingredients
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Other natural thickeners or emollients used in vitamins may include xanthan gum, a fermented and crystallized substance. Other ingredients used may include carrageenan, which is derived from seaweed, and Konjac gum, which comes from the Konjac plant, which is native to east Asia.
Alternatives
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Vegans who are looking for a beeswax-free alternative can specifically look for vegan multivitamins. A few manufacturers are Deva Nutrition, VegLife and Vegan Life. These can be found at most online vitamin retailers and in health food stores.
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- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Peter Shanks
