Hi folks, I'm just trying to guage interest in this substance with regards to a group buy. Here is a paper describing the major components expected to be in it.
Over the past few months, I've put a ton of effort into sourcing and testing on my own dime, and I'm satisfied so far with the results. I have farm photos and LC/MS data which I can post. But none of this matters if not enough people are interested. In the worst case, I have a personal inventory in the fridge which I wouldn't mind selling for $190/liter. However, I think that if we got a sizable group buy going, the price could be much lower.
Right now, supply is zero, but my farmer assures me that at least 100 L should be available by April. Shipping from the farm takes about 3 weeks.
And no, I don't actually want to run the buy. It's nontrivial to import liquid containers, divide them up, repackage them with appropriate customs documentation, and send them back out. So anyone who wants to do this for a reasonable fee per liter is invited to speak up. Wholesale cost will be somewhere in the range of $80-120/liter including shipping to the group buy manager, depending on quantity and exchange rate fluctuations. Cost will go up from there depending on how much we pay the manager, plus destination shipping and customs duties, if applicable, to the end recipient.
The ashitaba is raised in the highlands of Indonesia. On the minus side, I have to translate discussions with the help of my local friend, although at this point I'm satisfied with the farm operation so it's pretty simple to order. But on the plus side, it appears to be an isolated region very distant from urban pollution.
Thus far, personally, I've consumed a liter and a half. A friend of mine consumed a liter as well. She said it kept her up at night and lowered her body temperature, which I haven't noticed myself although fasting tends to do the same thing. Both of us have noticed some degree of stomach discomfort, but I have no indications of actual illness as a result. To err on the side of caution, however, I would recommend taking probiotics in advance, as this stuff is not sterilized in any way, and should therefore be presumed to contain some microbes. I've seen some positive effects, but my regimen is so multifaceted that it's hard to pin down the cause. So this is as much a mass health experiment, as a group buy. (But what group buy isn't?)
For that matter, you should be aware of the xanthotoxin and psoralen content. Xanthotoxin apparently makes it easier to sunburn until your liver fully neutralizes it. I don't know much else about it, but Google helps. Personally, I just take my ashitaba after my last sun exposure of the day, or in the morning if I have plans to go out.
My dosing has been as high as 40 or 50 mL on one day, although 20 is probably average.
The taste is very "medicinal", so let's be upfront about that. You're not buying cherry cola here. It's kind of like having a glass of lemony kale juice, only more bitter.
I mailed a liter to a US lab and got back the results a couple weeks ago. Arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, bisphenol A, aflatoxin, and ethyl acetate are all below detection thresholds. (It's possible that the heavy metals were bound up with some component of the chalcone, I suppose, but in that case I would expect low bioavailability.) I selected those substances because heavy metals are in some soils, bisphenol A is in plastic packaging, aflatoxin is produced by a mould under conditions of poor crop management, and ethyl acetate is used by some low quality vendors to extract chalcone. I attached a screen shot of the results which should be visible if you're logged in. Additionally, they were able to identify xanthoangelol and 4-hydroxyderricin, the main compounds suspected of bioactivity in humans. There's not much to show in that case except for 2 big spikes.
Anyway, let me know what y'all think.
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Edited by resveratrol_guy, 28 January 2016 - 11:43 PM.
