Frequently Asked Questions (click to jump to the answer)

1. Why are your prices on some items higher than most other brands?
   
2. What forms of payment do you accept?
   
3. Do I need a prescription to take your L-Tryptophan?
   
4. How can your L-Tryptophan be 100.1% pure?
   
5. I have a health clinic/health food store.how do I open a wholesale account?
   
6. How can I place an order?
   
7. Does the weather have any effect on products during shipping?
   
8. Do you ship internationally, and what are the prices?
   
9. What exactly does it mean when you say your products are "FDA Registered" and have an official "FDA Drug Master File"?
   
10. Is your Tryptophan organic? Is it Kosher?
11. How is your L-Tryptophan made?
12. Is L-Tryptophan harmed by heat?
13. What does USP stand for?

Why are your prices on some items higher than most other brands?

We know that it is always possible to find lower prices. But, seriously, quality is the issue here. It is important to make apple-to-apple comparisons. Products found on the shelves may be similar in name only, and there is a flood of cheap, poor-quality ingredients being imported into this country. Often we test raw materials from around the world, and we have frequently found ingredients that have none, or nearly none, of the ingredient that is listed on the label. The second, and greater problem, is the presence of contaminants and solvents. You may ask why anyone would use such materials. Well, the fact is that such materials are often only one-half or even one-third the cost of the very highest- grade European or Japanese-source ingredients. The L-Tryptophan in our products, for example, is approximately three-times as expensive as every other brand we know of on the market. If you think about it, this is a huge difference in the cost of raw material. But if a consumer is not concerned about heavy metals or volatile contaminants, such as organic solvents (some of which cause cancer or other diseases that may never be diagnosed) then these products may be a "good deal."

At the present time our profit margins are a fraction of what some manufacturers enjoy, and the fact that our retail prices are comparable and sometimes less is a testament to the tremendous efficiency and economy of our operations.

What forms of payment do you accept?

We accept all major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover) as well as checks and money orders.

Do I need a prescription to take your L-Tryptophan?

None of our consumer products containing L-Tryptophan require a prescription. Some of our products for specialty medical applications may require a prescription, but these are not advertised.

How can your L-Tryptophan be 100.1% pure?

When a biochemical assay is done on one of our products, the assay compares our product to a “gold standard.” The gold standard in this case is actually called a “reference standard” and it is a small and very, very expensive sample of the same type of compound. For example, our L-Tryptophan is tested against a specially purchased reference standard of L Tryptophan. Reference standards are made specifically for testing purposes and are ultra-pure. The reference standard, then, is stipulated to be 100% pure because it is supposedly the purest that humans can make. Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) our product is then compared to this “perfectly pure” reference standard.

Of course, no sample of powder is ever 100% pure in the real world, so the result of an assay is a comparison (not an absolute number). The assay measures the purity of our product relative to the ultra-pure reference standard that is believed to be as close to 100% as possible. In point of fact, some of our products consistently beat the reference standards, and therefore it is not uncommon for our products to have assays over 100%.

 I have a health clinic/health food store.how do I open a wholesale account?

To qualify for a wholesale account, you must have an establishment that will be reselling our products to your customers or patients. All that we need is a completed wholesale application, as well as a copy of your medical or business license. To receive a wholesale application, please contact us via e-mail or telephone.

 How can I place an order?

To order on our website, simply click “buy” next to each product, or
Call us at: 1-800-404-8185.
Fax your order to: 480-858-0547
Email your order to: customersupport@biochemicals.com, or
Mail your order to: 3202 S. Fair Lane, Tempe, AZ 85282

 Does the weather have any effect on products during shipping?

The only product that is particularly sensitive to temperature is our NADH powder. For this product, we recommend shipping 2nd day in order to keep it cool during transit (and we recommend long-term storage in either the freezer or refrigerator). All other products should be fine in any weather during shipping.

 Do you ship internationally, and what are the prices?

Yes, we do ship internationally. All international shipments are sent via USPS. We try to ship by US Global Priority Mail whenever possible, but sometimes packages may go by US Air Parcel Post. Shipping prices are dependent upon the exact dimensions and weight of the package, as well as the country to which it is being shipped. Therefore, the exact price cannot be determined until the product is ready to ship.

 What exactly does it mean when you say your products are “FDA Registered” and have an official “FDA Drug Master File”?

A Drug Master File (DMF) can be used for either nutritional or pharmaceutical compounds. A DMF contains detailed specifications about the manufacturing, molecular composition, and storage of a compound that spells out exactly how it is made, what it is, and any handling procedures. This level of detail is especially important for any compound that may be used in medical applications requiring extreme purity and safety.

DMF’s are not required for nutritional supplements because nutritional supplements are not regulated for purity or safety, except after there is evidence of serious public harm.

When a company has a DMF on file with the FDA, any new application (such as an IND for investigational research) can easily refer to the DMF number so there is absolutely no chance of misidentification.

 Is your Tryptophan organic? Is it Kosher?

There is no official standard that defines "organic" L-Tryptophan, so the term can be used very loosely. The molecule itself is an organic molecule, and there is nothing preventing a company from calling it "organic." On the other hand, we can state that our L-Tryptophan is manufactured by natural fermentation, using glucose as a substrate, and no animal products are used in the process. As a consequence, we are the only company that can claim their product is officially Kosher.

 How is your L-Tryptophan made?

As with nearly all amino acids that are produced for food or medicine, our L- Tryptophan is made by a natural fermentation process. It may seem surprising, but it would actually be much more expensive to make L-Tryptophan synthetically, and it would be even more expensive to extract it from common foods. Of course, new technologies keep changing, and someone may find an inexpensive way to make L-Tryptophan by another method. In any case, sophisticated purification methods must be used to ensure a product's safety, and if they are not used, it will show up in chromatograms and other methods of testing for quality. These purification procedures are expensive, and they are the reason that we spend so much on our raw material. We could pay one-third as much as we do for raw material, but it has not been our choice to do so.

Unfortunately, in the retail marketplace, the cost of L-Tryptophan may not reflect, at all, the cost and quality of the ingredients, and it can be very difficult for a consumer to make an informed choice. We certainly do our best to bring you the best product, and we make available the results of the testing and the quality standards that we meet, as seen on the L-Tryptophan product page.

 Is L-Tryptophan harmed by heat?

After studying L-Tryptophan's melting characteristics in the chemistry lab, we can say that it does not begin to decompose until about 460° F and does not melt until about 545°F. These are temperatures well in excess of those encountered in shipping.

Even when baking a turkey, the exterior temperatures may get fairly high, and you can see this because the skin starts to turn brown (decompose), but the interior of the turkey may be much lower, perhaps only 170°F. So even during baking, L-Tryptophan typically will remain unharmed, which is why you can still get nourishment from cooked food.

 What does USP stand for?

USP stands for United States Pharmacopeia. The USP is an organization that maintains the quality of medicines for human and animal consumption. They are also responsible for developing authoritative information about the appropriate use of medicines.