What would you say makes your products unique?
Taste and effectiveness. We use a proprietary process first developed 35 years ago that uses no alcohol and produces herbs that are very concentrated, shelf stable, and taste very good. Most liquid herbal products are processed with alcohol, which denatures and renders inert many of the constituents in an herb that in turn negatively affects taste. Our products are ‘true’ alcohol-free all-natural products that do not need preservatives when used at full concentration. In fact our product don’t contain added preservatives and yet require no refrigeration after opening.
What distinguishes your product from the competition?
Our TincTract® process (TINCture exTRACTion) creates a truly concentrated, naturally shelf stable, and great tasting consumer product that is totally alcohol-free throughout the manufacturing process. We are constantly working to enhance and improve the manufacture of our products that in turn produces the finest liquid herbal products available. They blend well with other ingredients for many types of uses in the food, beverage, confectionary, topical use and personal/skin care industries, as well as for the health supplements industry.
Cedar Bear states that its products are based on a standard ‘whole’ herb poly-constituent approach, not an isolate or fractionate mono-constituent phyto-pharmaceutical driven ‘Standardized’ approach. What’s the difference, and is one better than the other?
The differences is best described with the following example. ‘Whole’ poly-constituent is like a whole carrot that’s been juiced. It has all the carrot’s nutritional and constituent properties present in their natural ratio-intact state and synergy, only the fibrous part of the carrot is missing. Mono-constituent phyto-pharmaceutical potency “Standardized” is like that same whole carrot having only the vitamin A removed and super concentrated while all the other nutritional and constituent properties are dramatically reduced or altogether discarded along with the fiber, leaving only the isolate/fractionate mono-constituent based vitamin A part present in the finished product… sort of like a faucet only in a kitchen but with no sink, countertop, drains or plumbing for it to work with. From a purely health building perspective we believe the ‘whole’ poly-constituent approach, that we do as a ‘manufacture’ standardized technology, is the most health restoring and supplemental approach for improving and sustaining health and well-being. In other words, Cedar Bear Naturales™ is ‘whole’ poly-constituent based, while the “Standardized” of the isolate/fractionate phyto-pharmaceutical driven approach is potency enhanced mono-constituent based.
The difference between ‘whole’ poly-constituent and mono-constituent “Standardized” is simple but quite substantial in its ramifications. A poly-constituent approach seeks to obtain and sustain the naturally occurring synergy, interrelated ratios and biological viability of the broad base of constituents and compounds that are intrinsic to a ‘whole’ unprocessed herb, whereas the mono-constituent approach seeks to isolate, fractionate and concentrate a singular ‘active’ constituent from an herb to a ‘Standardized’ potency enhanced level without consideration for the myriad of other secondary and tertiary constituents and compounds the now ‘Standardized’ constituent was originally a part of. In the simplest of terms, the poly-constituent approach is more supplemental, nutritive, tonifying, building, restorative, regenerating/revivifying, etc., whereas the mono-constituent approach, is more drug-like in its ramifications and in many instances better suited for prescribing by a qualified clinically trained and pharma-experienced individual. As for one being better than the other, Cedar Bear Naturales™ is of the opinion that ‘whole’ poly-constituent based herbal products are best suited for general distribution and sales to the public and most closely meet the intent of the 1994 D.S.H.E.A. standard, whereas the mono-constituent phyto-pharmaceutically driven potency enhanced ‘Standardized’ based products are probably better suited for sales and distribution through qualified clinically trained practitioners. The bad media, negative press and public scares concerning certain herbs since the late 1980′s, and especially since 1994, has been caused by the misuse, mislabeling, over-reaching and misplaced confidence in the phytopharmaceutical isolate/fractionate mono-constituent potency enhanced based ‘Standardized’ category of products, not the ‘whole’ herb poly-constituent based herbal products like Cedar Bear Naturales® produces. (Ephedra is a good example of this observation. Of 1,400 or so cited cases concerning Ephedra adverse events reporting, only one case cited a whole ephedra product (as a simple steeped tea) as being a “possible” contributor to the event recorded – and then, only as a ‘possible’ contributor, meaning the evidence was lacking to affirmatively substantiate that a whole herb based product of ephedra was ever a problem at any time in that specific adverse event report. It was the phytopharmaceutical ‘Standardized’ drug-like ephedrine products that caused the ban, not the ‘whole’ herb based products.)