Question on this Product: Rhodiola Rosea Extract Powder | 60 Grams | 3% Salidroside

I was going to buy the Crenulata version eventually, but I thought the Rosea was a better choice because it supported functions of the brain more (atleast I thought it did, or am I wrong, and Crenulata does that better?), which helping the brain was my first goal, then lifespan was second goal, and immunity was third goal? I know a lot of people don't care about the brain or things that help with memory or brain function, and guess I'm weird that way. And I know there is no proof that herbs / food supplements increase lifespan, but don't think many people even tried or took them for long enough (i.e. everyday of their life) to test if it works. But even if it doesn't increase lifespan, it makes you feel healthier, so I take them.

Ohh, well in that case the Rhodiola rosea would be the more appropriate option.

Why would you recommend Crenulata over it?

If you are looking for a more rounded effect with cognitive function as the primary driver, then I would suggest rosea over crenulata.

I was drying some fruits and vegetables in my oven (will eventually buy an actual dehydration machine), but I did notice how much some would shrink. So I thought maybe 1 to 10, meant that it removed 90% of the water, if the herb or whatever, was 90% water in the first place?

No, water weight is not taken into account. It's how much dried raw material goes into making the finished extract. So you take 10kg of dried bacopa powder, and you run it through a water/ethanol dual extraction to yield 1kg of finished extract, that's a 10:1.

My main question on the 1 to 10, or 1 to 100, or whatever the number is, is if any healthful chemicals (substances that are normally a part of the herb or whatever) are removed in the process, and if they are, then how much?

That depends on the specifics of the extraction method. Sometimes you use water. Sometimes you use ethanol. Sometimes you use another solvent like ethyl acetate or methanol. Those are not GRAS, so you shouldn't. However, some shitty suppliers use non-GRAS solvents to get better yields. That's why you have to really control your analytical testing. Some of these Chinese suppliers have no hesitation in using methanol, ethyl acetate, ether, or other solvents they should not be. This is because those solvents are mo efficient at pulling out certain things. So you can increase your yields. Let's say you are shooing for 2% bacopasie A3 in an extract. Well you might need to do a 20:1 water/ethanol extract to reach that number. However, you might only need to do a 10:1 if you use dichloromethane and ethyl acetate. So if you are a shitty Chinese supplier, and you can make more money by using a more dangerous solvent, you do that. The type of solvent you use affects what gets pulled over, what gets left behind, and in what concentrations. Then you have other more creative extraction methods, like the supercritical CO2 extract we do with our reishi spore oil. It gets very complicated with extraction methods and yields. So it is hard to simplify it down.

My other question on the 1 to 10 or 1 to 100, and I think I even sometimes see a 1 to 1000 extract. Is what do they remove if they don't just remove the water in it, to make the extract?

Only the things that are soluble in the extraction solvent come over. The insoluble things are left behind. Nobody is actually doing a 1,000:1 extract, though. That's probably just a lie. No way you are using 1,000kg of something to make a single kilo. When you get higher up in the extract standardizations, you start to standardize to a single compound at a specific %, not an extraction ratio. So some things we use are 98% extracts. That does not mean the rest of the plant is discarded. That just means they put it through multi-stage extractions to separate out the different fractions.

And standardization doesn't decrease the amount of other stuff that should be in the finished product, does it? I mean other healthful chemicals in the product?

Standardization just means that you are picking a specific thing in a product, and ensuring the numbers meet your specs.

I read an article once, that said if you cooked a food with Vitamin C in it, then you would lose 60% of the Vitamin C content. So this question on retail herbal products, is based on that article: How much of healthful substances are being removed, in the process of killing germs, in making a commercial product? I mean, I know they heat, steam it, use certain types of light to kill germs, or radiate, or do something else to kill germs before making a retail product. How much of the phytochemicals (plant chemicals), such as tannins, antioxidants, or other possible beneficial chemicals in a herb, are destroyed in the process of making it germ free? I been buying good supplements since I was young, for 30 years, so don't plan to stop, but curious how much is lost in retail products when they kill germs in the process of making the retail product.

That depends on the product. This is why the details matter. Many people just see a bacopa, or ashwagandha, or a rhodiola and think they are all the same. They are not. Specifics matter. Production techniques matter. If you are destroying the active ingredients, what's the point?