★★★★★
The most important issue seems to be left out here. The way the acids are extracted is of paramount importance. Bio ag and others are still using Acid precipitation to extract fulvic acid and in the process they are combining the naturally occurring organic minerals with an acid rendering them sulfates or nitrates or the signature of which ever acid used. Non-precipitated products are the only ones that are safe for human consumption.
Buying Guide to Humic and Fulvic Acid
★★★★★
What You Need To Know About Buying Fulvic-Humic Acid.
I decided to write a small buying guide for fulvic and humic acid due to the fact that the information is spread all over the place and can be very confusing so will try to condense the info in one post. It makes it a very time consuming subject to truly research. When you're sick, it becomes an obstacle. This doesn't answer all the questions but it will hopefully be a short cut to getting up to speed and starting your journey into using humus for health. I am not an expert, so please do your own due diligence.
I will connote Fulvic Acid as FA and Humic acid as HA.
Here are the key considerations in buying FA/HA:
1) Labeling
2) Heavy metals
3) Strength, Quantity and Cost
4) Other
Labeling
The labeling is definitely one of the biggest barriers to comparing products. Some tests measure the gross amount of HA and FA while others can give separate figures for both which the International Humic Substance Society promotes. Many refuse to label due to lack of an agreed upon standard. I do think this is a cop out.
Some labeling may be effected by the state law in a few states. I think most people want to know the proportion of HA and FA in a product.
http://bioag.com/fulvicscams.html
"There is a lack of universal standards for measuring and labeling so consumer has another barrier to overcome. Numbers quoted by products may be like comparing apples to oranges."
www.bioag.com/images/MY_can_NovDec09_40-44.pdfhumification
"No matter what method is used the fact remains that until a single test is made standard and used by all registration agencies the confusion will continue through the marketplace. "
Heavy Metals
Any formulation which contains minerals could possibly have heavy metals. Since HA/FA gives the body the ability to absorb nutrients including minerals, heavy metals is a concern especially of one intends to take it for the long term. There are reports of high amount of lead, aluminum, mercury and arsenic in some brands.
FA/HA should not be taken in raw or unprocessed form since it may contain fungus growth.
I have found that the well known brands tend to minimize or remove the toxic metals. I can't vouch for the testing labs they use. The problem with so many products is that you have to dig for even this info. If your calculating the amount from numbers you need to know the amount of heavy metal in a daily serving.
www.medicalinsider.com/toxicity3.html#fulvic
Here is a contrarian view of the heavy metal issue.
http://www.supremefulvic.com/faq.php#ques07
I think most people will opt to not go there because it is the more unknown and they need more effort to do due diligence. I haven't come across any beneficial types of aluminum but I haven't researched the subject enough to confirm that.
It isn't whether it has aluminum or lead in it that matters but the daily amount you would consume. In a few brands I found that have aluminum, they keep it to 1/10th the average daily amount that a person gets in their food. One of those brands was a purified fertilizer brand.
Strength, Quantity and Cost
Cost is a product of strength and quantity.
The current labeling issues I discussed above makes it very difficult to clearly compare brands.
For liquid concentrated solutions, there is a good write up here
http://www.motherearthlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Learn-the-Benchmarks-of-a-Superior-Quality-Fulvic-and-Humic-Product.pdf
but another brand will say http://www.supremefulvic.com/faq.php#ques05
Again I think claiming "no universal standard" is a cop out. They could use the IHSS anointed test and give some type of info. They could use other tests, specify which test they used. I think they have to make some type of effort to give some data even if not perfect.
There are liquid, powder and extracts. There are varying degrees of humid and fulvic. I am still in my infancy in understanding this myself but I will leave you to decide. Maybe someone can chime in with another perspective on this issue.
Other
Some people may want to formulate their own mixture so flecibility may be important. Obtaining more pure humus may be the way they want to go. Ted has advocated a 70/30 fulvic/humic blend ratio.
When To Take
As far as when you take it, it depends if your taking medications and what you are eating. If you know the food your eating is very healthy meaning it has minimal contaminants - such as pesticides, chemicals, not organic etc. - then taking the fulvic acid with meals should be very beneficial. Otherwise probably take it 1/2 hour before eating or 2 hours after eating. If using medications, take 2 hours apart.
One major caveat is - Do not use with chlorinated water. Filtered water should be ok. Chlorine interacts with it in a negative way.
Filtered water should be ok. Chlorine interacts with it in a negative way.
Products
I don't endorse any product but just point out the more well known ones out there. Shilajit Shilajit is used in Ayurvedic medicine. Reported to contain at least 85 minerals in ionic form, as well as triterpenes, humic acid and fulvic acid. Shilajit should not be taken in raw or unprocessed form since it may contain fungus growth. Not all Shilajit is created equal due to heavy metals and contaminants.
Life Extension uses Primavie brand in it's formulations. This seems to be at least one of the gold standard brand for purity. It is used in research studies. WuJinSan WuJinSan is a purified fulvic Acid without the minerals. This in essence is the active ingredient. This should be one of the cleanest products.
Garden store variety HA/FA The advantage of Garden store variety is low cost. The supposed disadvantage is heavy metals. Ted advocates this.
In such a blend, Ted recommends adding a tspn or two of ACV or ordinary vinegar to the HA/FA mixture, thus acidifying the mixture, which will therefore act to precipitate out and remove the Humic acid component, leaving just the more useful and beneficial Fulvic acid in solution. Humifulvate Humet-R This is peat derived humate is more dominated by humic acid. It wasn't easy to find heavy metal content but in long pdf paper buried deeply, I concluded it was low. TeraVita SP-90 Humic Acid 100% Soluble Powder is 90% or more humic acid. This is advertised as fertilizer. It says it has 1% aluminum but doing the calculation based on daily dose of 1 oz, it is very low amount. The reason why one may want to use this is because humic acid won't be absorbed by body but stay in the colon.
You also have products by companies in referenced links above.
Some Addition info
I have seen it repeated that Fulvic acid is derived from Humic Acid. That is incorrect. Fulvic Acid is derived from Humus as seen below. It is a portion of the Humus Substances.
Organic soil matter (decaying non living matter) -> Humus (Substances) Humus is well rotted and will unlikely break down further. A humus layer can be 40 million years old. A rule of thumb about the quality: the older the better.
- Humus Substances -> Humic Acids (soluble at high ph) (Yellow)
- Humus Substances -> Fulvic Acids (soluble at any PH) (Black)
- Humus Substances -> Humin (insoluble at any PH)(Black) http://www.humintech.com/pdf/humicfulvicacids.pdf
- Humic & Fulvic acids contents of various materials Natural Sources Humic Acids % Fulvic Acids % Leonardite/Humate 40 85 Black Peat 10 40 Sapropel Peat 10 20 Brown Coal 10 30
Fulvic Acid is generally considered the active ingredient. This does not mean that humic acid us not an active ingredient also. Fulvic acid mainly transports particles, while humic acid mainly binds particles. They both have useful medicinal functions.
Humic acid is thought to support the removal of heavy metals from the body by acting as a chelator. It may be possible for the body to accumulate metals within the stomach, and chelators are thought to help remove these metals from the stomach by latching on the metals within the stomach and supporting their removal from the body.
