Frequently Asked Questions
Please explain Tesseract’s Good Manufacturing Practices
Tesseract utilizes specific contract manufacturers who are FDA inspected on a regular basis. Each facility has been visited and inspected by Al Czap, founder of Thorne Research and founder of Tesseract. Al designed and ran a fully compliant, 58,000 square foot, FDA inspected manufacturing facility
and laboratory. He has also attended the FDA course for training FDA inspectors.
All facilities are CGMP, utilizing the most recent good manufacturing practices. Products are submitted to highly qualified third party laboratories for ingredient testing and finished product compliance testing.
Q: Do Tesseract supplements contain any dairy, gluten, corn, bovine, or sugar cane/sucrose?
A: No dairy, no gluten, no corn protein or protein of any kind, no meat of any kind (capsules are veggie plant cellulose), no
cane sugar. The dextrin fiber does come from corn, but has no protein, and is considered as interlocking sugars since
dextrin is a type of sugar.
Q: What’s the difference between Sustained Release and Quick Release products?
To control release of the ingredients in Tesseract capsules, we use water soluble celluloses that have specific properties. This is known as a hydrophilic (can be wetted by water in the digestive tract) matrix system and is among the most widely used means of providing controlled release in solid oral dosage forms. These celluloses of different viscosities are known as hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC).
To achieve controlled release through the use of a water-soluble cellulose such as HPMC, as the capsule itself dissolves in the digestive tract, the cellulose mixed in with the ingredients will quickly hydrate and form a gelatinous layer. It is not really gelatin it is hydrated cellulose that
resembles a capsule in shape but with no capsule shell. A rapid formation of a gelatinous layer is critical to prevent wetting of the interior and disintegration of the ingredient core.
Once the original protective gel layer is formed, it controls the penetration of additional water into the dosage form. As the outer gel layer fully hydrates and dissolves, the inner layers will replace it and be cohesive and continuous enough to slow the influx of water and control nutrient absorption in the gut.
By the formulation of active ingredients with specific combinations of the different property celluloses Tesseract is able to make a product that will release relatively quickly in the gut, or over specific periods of time. All persons have some digestive differences but 50 years of pharmaceutical use of these celluloses can provide products that are consistent in manufacture and absorption.