What is Pharmaceutical Grade and why it matters so much.
By Matt Johnson
Founder of The Feed.
While everyone should be cautious of what they put in their bodies, athletes in particular need to be extra careful. To that note, SwissRX has an obsession with ingredient quality.
Supplements that are made in a way to ensure an extremely high standard of purity and maximum absorption are certified pharmaceutical grade.
Pharmaceutical Grade supplements have two main advantages: Bioavailability and Purity.
SwissRX sources the highest quality ingredients for their products - "a spare no expense" mission.
They source the exact ingredients used in the Clinical Studies, unlike most where the highest quality is used in studies only.
Supplements that are made in a way to ensure an extremely high standard of purity and maximum absorption are certified pharmaceutical grade.
No product is ever 100% pure, however pharmaceutical grade products must exceed 99% purity and not contain any fillers, binders, dyes, or other inactive ingredients that serve as a vehicle for active substances. Less than 3% of supplements meet pharmaceutical grade standards.
Why Should I Choose Pharmaceutical Grade?
While everyone should be cautious of what they put in their bodies, athletes in particular need to be extra careful. After all, we ask a lot of our bodies and our bodies crave (and deserve) the very best. Choosing a pharmaceutical-grade supplement is the only way to know for sure that you’re giving your body the highest, purest, and most bioavailable form of an ingredient possible.
Yes, they cost more - but that’s because they cost more to produce. To meet the rigorous sourcing, testing, and production standards required to earn a pharmaceutical-grade label (designated as USP) is a hefty investment on the part of the company. Companies that go this extra-long mile are very few in ranks and show an uncommon commitment to transparency and efficacy.
Pharmaceutical Grade Supplements Have Two Main Advantages:
BioAvailability: The extent to which an ingredient can be absorbed is called its bioavailability. Increased bioavailability is a major benefit of pharmaceutical grade supplements, which are often made with patented technology.
For example, SwissRX Collagen uses patented technology to cut its collagen down into small enough sizes that the body can utilize as collagen for tissue repair rather than a protein source (which is an issue with most collagen supplements). Another example, Swiss Vitamin D3/K2 uses a form of vitamin k proven to last 72 hours in your system, versus inferior forms which last only 4-8 hours. These are the tiny details that make a huge difference in whether your supplement is doing what it’s supposed to do.
Purity: As mentioned, pharmaceutical-grade supplements are required to undergo thorough testing to be at least 99% pure. SwissRX batch tests each source ingredient before it comes into the lab and each finished product before it leaves the lab.
SwissRX takes it even another step further by sourcing the exact materials used in clinical trials and studies whenever possible. For example, referring back to vitamin K, SwissRX’s vitamin K is the exact vitamin K used in multiple studies by leading vitamin K expert and researcher, Dr. Schurgers. This ensures results from clinical trials accurately reflect what your personal results can be.
Synthetic versus Natural:
Most vitamin supplements found on the shelves of drug stores contain ingredients that are not truly natural but synthesized predominantly from petrochemicals and less frequently from plants. There’s a lot of controversy concerning the body’s reaction to synthetic vs. natural vitamin supplements. Many believe that the small differences between synthetic and natural don’t make a difference. However, clinical evidence and several studies indicate our bodies detect the difference and that natural forms of vitamins including A, B-complex, C, D, and E are more easily absorbed by the body and have a more profound effect on deficiencies and disease than synthetics.
When it comes to using natural ingredients, SwissRX takes it to the next level.
SwissRX travels the globe to find the best ingredients, procuring its Omega 3s from bottom-of-the-food-chain fish from the coast of southern Chile, Vitamin K2 from the top research lab in the Netherlands, a patented Collagen from Germany, or Elderberry from the mountains of Switzerland.
Spare-no-expense ingredients
I'm sure you have seen countless supplement companies pointing to clinical studies supporting their products. Many of these companies all point to the same studies but seldom use the actual ingredients from these studies in their products. Often, this is because Clinical Studies use ingredients that are extremely high quality, made to ensure their study will collect accurate data but are very expensive or difficult to source due to being patented by a Biopharma company.
This is where SwissRX's spare-no-expense approach really makes a difference. They source the exact ingredients used in the Clinical Studies regardless of cost. They go to each patent holder and negotiate a sourcing arrangement (often exclusively). The result for the athlete is a supplement that is of the utmost purity, bioavailability, and effectiveness.