The Truth About Carbon 60
Updated: Mar 1, 2022
I asked the producers of NZ Carbon 60 to tell me what was so special about their product, in comparison to an overseas product, more or less the same price but claiming superior or equal properties to the NZ-Made C60. Here is New Zealand Carbon 60's Lark Brandt's detailed reply - wow! I must say, I am impressed with the trouble Lark took to reply personally and not with a cut-and-paste job. Good on him!
Here is Lark's letter:
Most producers of C60 Olive Oil take shortcuts to save costs, use ingredients that aren’t suitable for ingestion, mislead consumers about their ingredients and processes - and use damaging industrial/chemical processes to manufacture a product they then promote as a health food. Unfortunately, most consumers don’t know how to see past the marketing speak.
There are 2 major issues with this supplier, and one other possibly major issue:
1) ‘No solvent’ is a lie. It is a marketing deception, used by most suppliers of C60 products, where the C60 ‘has actually been made using solvents’. Their C60 is manufactured using a process where they dissolve/soak/saturate the C60 in a petro-chemical (Toluene) to separate it from other impurities that are present in the raw (just produced) C60 powder, which needs ‘refining’. They then bake the powder that is soaked in the petrochemical, evaporating ‘most’ of the petro-chemicals off the C60, and they then use a low accuracy test that ‘doesn’t detect’ any toluene in the C60 powder. They then make the false claim of ‘no solvent'.
The petro-chemical purification is fast and cheap, which is why it is widely used (by companies trying to make the most money, without caring about the health of the purchaser), but it is like buying coffee that has been soaked in petrol then baked in an oven until you can’t smell the petrol any more –it can’t be fully removed: Do you want to drink coffee that’s been soaked in petrol??
Sublimation (a heat only separation process) is the only natural way to purify C60 powder, but it takes many hours and multiple cycles of sublimation/separation to complete, which is time-consuming and costly. ‘Sublimation only’ C60 costs 100% - 200% more than dissolved C60 (sublimated C60, which we use, costs more than gold) so C60 product suppliers go for the petro-chemical version and tell the lie.
If a company states ‘no solvents used (at any stage) in the production of their C60’ or ‘our C60 is purified by sublimation only’ then they are saying that the raw C60 powder has not been soaked in petro-chemicals at all, and is a genuine statement.
2) Sonification is another industrial process, which shouldn’t be used for a food product. It damages and denatures the Olive Oil, significantly diminishing the health benefits of the final product. It is used to unnaturally saturate more C60 into the Olive Oil – more than can be saturated ‘naturally’ - so they can boast a higher percentage of (tainted) C60 in the Olive Oil for marketing purposes (implying their product will provide more benefits – when the opposite is true). Their final product is denatured, damaged and has less efficacy.
3) Olive Oil is a sensitive food and there is significant experiential and science-based knowledge about how and when to produce and store it, for it to produce and retain the highest polyphenol levels (the most health benefits).
Olives when harvested early in the season have much higher polyphenol levels, but their yield is much lower, so most Olive Oil producers tend to harvest later in the season – resulting in very low polyphenols (but who asks about or discloses those! – when these are actually the most relevant information about any Olive Oil), but more substantial yield (more money). They are generally mass-produced and varieties are combined (blended) together, fillers are sometimes added (cheaper unhealthy oils like canola. Tests have found filler oils, very low to non-existent polyphenol levels and rancidity in a number of international Olive Oil samples - none from NZ growers).
Olive Oil is also damaged by light, heat and oxygen. Do you know whether that bottle of Olive Oil you are buying has been cared for, and has any health benefits in it at all? (a hint – most Olive Oils you can buy are generally mild in taste – for taste, not for health benefits. High health benefit Olive Oil has intense flavour profiles. The intense peppery flavour is the polyphenols! There is a saying “if you haven’t coughed when tasting Olive Oil then you’ve never tasted Olive Oil”).
We buy Olive Oil from growers that are Biodynamic/Organic (they care about the health benefits of the Olive Oil). They harvest early, especially for us (and we pay more for their Olive Oil for this) so that we receive Olive Oil that always has a level of polyphenols of at least 250 TPP (total polyphenols), which is the level that measurable health benefits occur. It is independently tested.
Our growers all have coolrooms where the Olive Oil is stored after harvest. We send them stainless steel fustis for decanting into, the growers apply inert gas to each fusti after filing (food grade Argon). We have them picked up by refrigerated transport. We naturally saturate (gentle mixing over 3 weeks) the C60 in the Olive Oil in a controlled temperature environment that is devoid of oxygen (food-grade inert gas), and light (mixed in the dark), and bottle the finished product in violet glass (which protects and enhances the contents).
For transparency, and for the trusted quality of our product, we display the grower, the (single) variety and the polyphenol test certification (the polyphenol level) of the Olive Oil that is in the current batch of C60 Olive Oil.
If a manufacturer isn’t disclosing their food journey for the Olive Oil: Has it been harvested early (i.e. its polyphenol levels), cold-pressed, kept as a single varietal (not blended), kept at or under room temperature (stored in a cool room), stored in stainless steel fustis (not plastic containers or bladders), stored in an inert atmosphere (food grade Argon or Nitrogen), stored in the dark, then are you getting any health benefits from the Olive Oil?
C60 is synergistic with Olive Oil – it multiplies the health benefits of the Olive Oil (if there are health benefits in the Olive Oil to start with).
As a consumer/health client, I want to know that the Olive Oil is healthy (high polyphenol levels) and you’ve cared for it (always kept cool, out of the light, away from oxygen) so that I know I will receive genuine health benefits from the product you are promoting to me.
Regards,
Lark Brandt