[LookingForward2NBE]

It is just pill pressed. Because the product isn't an extract. There isn't much they could have done to it. They may get it from a better farm, but that is about it. They don't add or do any processing to it.

Reminds me of what happens to protein in Australia. They whey is bought in bulk from USA companies (supplied from Australia), they add flavouring, repackage it and sell it back to us for a higher price.

Just because it is more expensive doesn't mean it is better. I see these things called Ah bras on tv saying Super discount price of 15 dollars! But the same product is on alibaba for 70cents each.

It is how importers make profit.

That is not actually true or accurate. Sorry - even regarding the Whey example you quoted.

With respect to herbs. They basically come in:

1. Raw form. Think fresh at grocery store or your local market.

Then you get into manipulated forms of herbs - extracts. The extraction can be as simple as a dehydration (removing the water component of the herb) or solvent based using alcohols and other type of solvents to physically PURIFY the bulk herb so you can get the specific plant component you are looking to take (for PM etc. it's the phytoestrogen components etc.).

The easiest to understand and most common is dehydrated. Most herbs are greater then 90% water. So you can get a 4:1, 10:1 extracts simply by drying the herb

ie. 1g of wet natural fresh cut herb can end up being 100mg of dried herb.

So if the traditional medicine dose is 5g of fresh herb, taking 500mg of dried herb would be equivalent. This would be called a 10:1 extract.

Now that actual amount of "Active" ingredient (ie phytoestrogen) could en up being just 1mg in 1g of raw herb so the effective dose is 5mg.

So in 5000mg (5g) of Raw Herb or 500mg of dried 10:1 extract you get 5mg of active ingredient for a particular medical outcome.

Now using a solvent, you can extract that 1mg out of the 100mg into about 5mg of powder. During the solvent process, the phytoestrogen is removed from the cellulose and other components of the herb so you get more pure phyto. That is a very basic workflow.

So you go from 5g of Raw herb, to 500mg of dried powder to 25mg of EXTRACTED powder to get 5mg of actual phytoestrogen.

So for the same medicianl affect in the Above example:

5g of Raw IS EQUIVALENT to 500mg of dried herb IS EQUIVALENT to 25mg EXTRACT POWDER; all yield 5mg of phytoestrogen

That being said.. now you get into marketing language.

99% pure.. can mean anything.

1st...
It can mean 99% pure dried powered. Normally to make a capsule or tablet, you need flow agents, binders to make the powder stick together to form a tablet, bulking agents to get uniform doses etc. So an actual tablet can be 33%, 50%, 90% non medicinal ingredients need to simply make a tablet. Some example of those include lactose, Microcrystaline cellulose, Polyethlene glycol, SSF etc.

So 99% pure can mean it's a tablet made of 1% tablet or capsule manufcaturing ingredients and 99% dried powdered.

2nd...
Or can mean that it's 99% EXTRACTED powder. In the above example

If there is 1mg of active in 100mg of dried powder.. it's 1% pure.. 99% of the powder is cellulose and other plant products. So if it's a solvent extracted ingredient.. then it's pure pure pure phytoestrogen.

Which mean in the above example:

5g raw is the recommended dose = 5mg of active phytoestrogen.

Then 99% pure extracted phyto.. you should only take 5mg! Since it's ultra pure.

So.. you can have extracts listed as:

1:1, 2:1, 4:1, 10:1, 25:1, 100:1 etc.
or
50%, 80%, 90%, 99%..

CONFUSING.. absolutely..

Depending on extraction procedure.. it can also degrade the quality of phyto.. or you can run into religious aspects due to the alchohols being a common and most used solvent.

So you can non-alcohol, cold extract, Supercritical Fluid Extract (which uses high pressure and a solvent) etc.

Each companies process is different, each companies raw herb to start with is different.. yielding different % of the different phyto's and different purities.

So .. Simply put. It 100% does matter and does make a difference which companies product you buy. Every source could be very very different.

....
As for your whey example. There are 3 predominate versions: Whey Concentrate 34%, Whey Concentrate 80%, Whey Isolate 90%. Then there is microfilter cold (which doesn't denature the protein) or heat (less ideal) processing. As for your example of buying whey. As the purity goes up, as does the cost cause of the waste produced when removing lactose, ash, albumins etc.

A "manufacturer" buy bulk whey.. then add's flavoring, gelling agents to make it thicker for shakes etc, additional amino's, vitamins, minerals and a bunch of other stuff as per their marketing angle, packages and sells. Its NOT just simply buying 40ft tractor trailer of whey protein in 25kg bags and putting it in a bottle and selling. 99.9% of market tries to improve it and make it developed product. And yes.. that manufacturer will mark it up for a profit.