Why Blue Poppy Herbs Come as Capsules

by Bob Flaws, Lic. Ac., FNAAOM (USA), FRCHM (UK)

In the West, ready-made Chinese herbal medicines are part of the larger nutraceutical industry, and, within this industry, there are three main dosage forms for oral administration: capsules, tablets, and capsugels. Capsules and tablets are used for the delivery and administration of solid substances, while capsugels are used for the delivery of liquid substances, such as oils. Since Chinese medicinals are primarily solids, their two main dosage forms when sold as nutritional supplements or ready-made medicines are either capsules or tablets. So why has Blue Poppy Herbs chosen to market its products as capsules as opposed to tablets when, in fact, tablets are typically cheaper to manufacture? There are two reasons for this choice. The first has to do with medicinal absorption and bioavailability and the second has to do with consumer preference.

Absorption & bioavailability

Absorption is the movement of a medicinal or nutritional substance into the bloodstream. Bioavailability is how quickly and how much of a substance reaches its intended site of action, and absorption affects bioavailability. Factors that affect absorption and, therefore, bioavailability include the way a medicinal product is designed and manufactured, its physical and chemical properties, and the physiologic characteristics of the person taking the medicinal. Therefore, the dosage form of a medicinal has a significant effect on its bioavailability. If the medicinal does not flow in the general circulation, it cannot be expected to reach its physiologic receptors.

Chinese medicinal tablets are a mixture of Chinese herbs (either raw herbs or extract) plus fillers, stabilizers, disintegrants, and lubricants. This mixture is granulated and compressed into tablet form. The type and amount of additives and the degree of compression affect how quickly the tablet disintegrates and the medicinal is absorbed. In contrast, Chinese medicinal capsules simply consist of Chinese herbs and, possibly, a filler within a gelatin shell. Like tablets above, these Chinese herbs can either be raw, powdered medicinals or powdered extracts. Blue Poppy Herbs are made from powdered, freeze-dried extracts with no or minimal fillers. When fillers are used, it is rice flour to simply fill the capsule beyond the desired weight of the extract. When swallowed, the gelatin shell swells and releases its contents when almost as soon as it becomes wet, eroding quite quickly. In general, absorption decreases in the order of capsules to compressed tablets to coated tablets. Because our extracts are freeze-dried and not sprayed on a binder and oven-baked like many Chinese medicinal extracts, they dissolve especially fast and are extremely easy for the digestive tract to absorb.

Within the Western nutraceutical industry, compressed tablet are the most widely used dosage form because of their convenience and because of economic factors in the manufacturing process. However, biological availability of medicinals from this form can be difficult to optimize. With their decreased surface area (due to their being one large particle), it can be far more difficult to get the medicinal(s) into contact with the biological fluids unless the tablet disintegrates readily. Thus, either the dissolution rate from the intact tablet or the disintegration rate of the tablet may limit the absorption of the medicinal(s). Overall, the importance of dosage form can not be overemphasized, and this is the main reason why Blue Poppy Herbs has chosen to market its high potency extracts as capsules and not tablets.

Consumer preference

In a large study of vitamin users, a majority, 60%, expressed a preference for two‑piece capsules over tablets. Similarly a majority of herbal remedy users, 56%, expressed a preference for two‑piece capsules over tablets. Ease‑of‑swallowing and no unpleasant odor were the dominant reasons for these persons preferring capsules over tablets. In another study of 700 consumers conducted in 1997, 71% expressed their preference for two‑piece capsules over tablets, and, again, ease of swallowing was the dominant reason for this preference. And finally, in yet another study, 74% of herbal users expressed their preference for two‑piece capsules over tablets, while vitamin users preferred the two‑piece capsule over a tablet by a 2‑to‑1 margin. Therefore, Blue Poppy Herbs has also chosen capsules for its delivery method based on well established consumer preferences based on multiple controlled studies.

Conclusion

Blue Poppy Herbs gives your patients better absorbed, more bioavailable Chinese herbal medicinals with no binders, stabilizers, disintegrants, and lubricants in a dosage form that patients themselves clearly prefer.

Endnotes:

. http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec02/ch011/ch011c.html
. http://wey238ab.ch.iup.edu/olcciii/formulate.htm
. Ibid.
. http://www.capsugel.com/services/ds_dpstdy.php
. Ibid.
. Ibid.