CO2 Extraction — Getting the Full-Spectrum of Botanical Benefits
When you think of a plant extract, what comes to mind? A beaker of mysterious liquid? A capsule? How about an essential oil? Well, an extract can be any of these things since there’s such a wide variety of plants and different plant extraction methods to pull out the organic gifts from each one.
What’s A Plant Extract?
Each plant contains its own treasure trove of bioactive compounds hidden inside its leaves, roots, flowers, or seeds. These “actives” are the parts of the plant that can benefit and support your health such as carotenoids, flavonoids, and polyphenols.
Many of these organic jewels can be extracted using simple water, others need ethanol, but one of the most advanced and clean techniques to mine a plant’s precious gems is a supercritical carbon dioxide (C02) extraction.
What’s a CO2 Extraction?
A CO2 extraction is a high-tech way to distill the fat-soluble or oily compounds from a plant, such as its essential oils. The water-soluble compounds, in contrast, are much easier to obtain using simple water or ethanol extractions.
Why Use A CO2 Extraction?
Many of the fatty compounds found inside plants are difficult to extract using water, ethanol, or other solvents. Unfortunately, a common way to extract these oily components is by using toxic chemical solvents.
Hexane is a hazardous chemical byproduct of oil refining that’s frequently used to extract cooking oil from soybeans, canola, corn, and peanuts. Another common toxic chemical solvent is acetone — yes, like the kind found in nail polish remover.
Obviously, at Pure Synergy®, we completely reject the use of any detrimental chemical solvents. The supercritical CO2 extraction method is a modern and welcome substitute for chemical solvent extractions.
It uses high tech equipment and natural, carbon dioxide of volcanic origin. By varying the gas density and pressure to adjust the dissolving power to the specific requirements of each plant, the sensitive active compounds are gently pulled out without being degraded or compromised.
The result is a clean extract with potent levels of bioactive compounds — a health goldmine!
Full Spectrum of Actives
At Pure Synergy, we want to give you all the treasures that each botanical has to offer. Depending on the organic gems that we’re looking for, we strategically use one, two, or even three types of extractions per plant. That’s because there’s no one-size-fits-all extraction process. Every single plant contains a variety of bioactive jewels — some of the active ingredients may be water-soluble, while others might be fat-soluble.
An example of this is our SuperPure® Ginger Extract. We use both a water as well as a CO2 extraction to obtain ginger’s precious gingerols and shogaols. Another example is our powerful SuperPure Echinacea Extract. For this botanical immune hero, we use three extraction methods — CO2, H2O/ethanol, and fresh juice extracts — to maximize the fullest range of echinacea’s beneficial immune compounds.
We squeeze out the widest range of turmeric’s health potential using a triple extraction process in our SuperPure Turmeric Extract. The three extraction methods — CO2, H2O, and ethanol extracts – not only make for a potent and effective formula with a full spectrum of active ingredients, they also make it easier for your body to be able to absorb them. That’s because curcumin, one of turmeric’s star compounds, is difficult for your body to absorb. By extracting turmeric’s essential oils in addition to the curcumin, we enhance the bioavailability of the curcumin without the need for unwanted additives.
Purity & Potency
We take the “Pure” in Pure Synergy seriously. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to make the most potent and effective products in a way that is good for you and good for the planet. CO2 extractions from plants are one way we ensure you get the best of both worlds — purity and potency.
