Ingredient Information

Function

Magnesium Stearate has lubricating properties and prevents the ingredients from sticking to each other. It also is used as a food additive called E470b. Magnesium Stearate is used to bind sugar in hard candies and is also used as an ingredient in baby food.

Magnesium Stearate is a white substance that has two equivalents of stearate and one magnesium cation. It is tasteless and odorless. It is safe for human consumption. It is often used as a filling agent in the manufacture of supplement capsules. This substance has lubricating properties and prevents ingredients from sticking to manufacturing equipment during the compression of chemical powders into capsules or tablets. Chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is high in saturated fat. About a third of the fat in chocolate is in the form of stearic acid. Stearic acid is the most common of the long-chained fatty acids. It is found in many foods including vegetable and animal oils, beef fat, and cocoa butter. A person who eats a chocolate bar will ingest hundreds of times more stearic acid than someone taking a dietary supplement with magnesium stearate.

Magnesium Stearate. It is also known as Octadecanoic acid and as Magnesium Salt. It is a white substance that solidifies at room temperature. Its chemical formula is Mg(C18H3502)2.

Other Use and Industries

Magnesium stearate has lubricating properties and prevents ingredients from sticking to the manufacturing equipment. It is also used in dusting powder, and as a paint and varnish dryer. For medicinal purposes it's used is as a filler for medical tablets, bulking them up to be the right size for human consumption and handling.

Health Effects

Magnesium stearate is used as filler in tablets and capsules. As a neutral binding agent, it is used in sweets and baby food. However, excessive inhalation may lead to coughing and breathing. If ingested in inappropriately large amounts, it has a low level of toxicity. If it comes into contact with the eyes, it may cause some irritation. There is the potential for drop in blood pressure and slowing of the heart rate for those who have ingested high doses. According to tests that have been conducted on lab animals, magnesium stearate has the potential to cause renal complications such as urinary stones and Nephrocalcinosis which in turn leads to kidney damage and failure.

In 1979, FDA's Subcommittee on GRAS (generally recognized as safe) Substances (SCOGS) reported, "There is no evidence in the available information on ... magnesium stearate ... that demonstrates, or suggests reasonable grounds to suspect, a hazard to the public when they are used at levels that are now current and in the manner now practiced, or which might reasonably be expected in the future.

Magnesium stearate is often found as a combined product of stearic acid, it is made by the hydrogenation of cottonseed or palm oil. Cottonseed oil has the highest content of pesticide residues of all commercial oils, and it coats the nutrients that are found in supplements. Therefore it also delays the absorption of these nutrients by the intestines. In large doses, magnesium stearate damages the skin and causes liver toxicity.

Origins

Magnesium Stearate is manufactured from plant and animal oils. It occurs naturally as a fatty acid and can be isolated from both plant and animal oils. For the strictly vegetarian versions, cottonseed oil and palm oil are used the most. The isolation process involves the hydrogenation of the oils under high temperatures and pressure in a metal catalyst. After this, magnesium stearate can be extracted from the mix. Some nutritional supplements specify that the magnesium stearate used is sourced from vegetables. Magnesium stearate is a major component of "bathtub rings". When produced by soap and hard water, magnesium stearate and calcium stearate both form a white solid insoluble in water, and are collectively known as "soap scum".