Kratom

4 Best Ways to Take Kratom: Which Do You Prefer?

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Kratom, officially known as Mitragyna speciosa, is a very special plant extract. It’s a tropical tree that can be taken in many forms, and those forms have been used by societies where Kratom is native for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Before you buy kratom online, it’s important to know the best way to take it though. In this article, we’ll discuss the 4 most common.

From teas to powders to capsules, Kratom users around the world are mixing up how they will take their Kratom every single day! And really, there are a lot of different products and methods that they can choose from.

When you’re new to Kratom, you might not know how which method you want to try or what the difference between those types of Kratom really is. How can you know without spending months trying them all?

We’ll introduce all the pros and cons to you today so that you can make that choice for yourself!

Teas

One of the most common ways for people to take Kratom is by making it into a tea. You can use both loose leaf and powder to make tea, but you’ll need to spend a good bit of time figuring out the exact brew that you like and will enjoy drinking.

When buying loose leaf Kratom, it’s often known as crushed leaf.

Most people find that taking tea is the most effective way to enjoy Kratom. The basics of making tea are simple. All that you need to do is allow them to steep in boiling water for about 20 minutes before straining, but this isn’t the only way to make Kratom tea! In time, you’ll learn many methods.

Buy Kratom online at Phytoextractum

There are a lot of different things that you can add to tea, but the most common ones that people find to improve the general flavor of Kratom tea are:

  • • Fruits (particularly citrus fruits)
  • • Honey
  • • Sweeteners
  • • Juice (lemon, orange, and pineapple are all great choices)

Regardless of what people recommend that you add to your tea, don’t be afraid to experiment! Only you can decide what flavors you like, and the only way that you’ll find the perfect combination is to change it up every single time that you make a batch of tea until you get it right.

Pros of Kratom Tea

  • • Easier on your stomach than other preparations
  • • Can add your own ingredients to change the taste
  • • Can be batch prepared in advance

Cons of Kratom Tea

  • • Takes time to prepare
  • • Can be very bitter
  • • Will need to try various adjustments to get the flavor right

Kratom Powder

The other most popular way to take Kratom is to use Kratom powder. Powder can be used as an additive to other drinks or smoothies, or it can be used more directly if taken by using capsules instead.

Because of how convenient taking powder Kratom is, this is quickly becoming the most popular form. It’s simple to buy in bulk, can be taken discreetly, and doesn’t require an acquired taste like tea does!

Some of our favorite ways to combine Kratom powder are into yogurt, smoothies, drinks, dressings, and more!

Kratom Powder Pros

  • • Tends to be more affordable
  • • Easier to buy and store in bulk
  • • Versatile
  • • Can be put into capsules for easy digestion & storage

Kratom Powder Cons

  • • Can cause upset stomachs due to increased amount of plant matter
  • • Powders can be messy
  • • Can be harder to measure unless using capsules

Kratom Capsules & Tablets

If you are looking for a very easy and discreet way to take Kratom, you might want to try Kratom tablets or capsules.

Kratom tablets are made when high-pressure machinery creates a tablet by simply squeezing the powder together as hard as possible. They stay together without any binding agents as long as the proper machinery is used to make the tablets. Plus, you don’t have to make them yourself as you might need to do with powder capsules!

Kratom gum is also available. You should keep in mind that gum will likely have binding additives, so you should decide if you are okay with that or not.

Tablet Pros

  • • Very discreet
  • • Easy to carry around with you as needed
  • • Easy to measure

Tablet Cons

  • • Might contain additives
  • • Might contain chemicals
  • • Might contain added flavors
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Kratom Extracts

Like CBD extracts, it is possible to create a pure extract from Kratom plants. These Kratom extracts have been used for many years in some areas of the world and can be a great way to take a concentrated amount of Kratom.

The extracts are often called full spectrum kratom because as many alkaloids as possible are pulled from the plants. If you want an easy intake method, full spectrum Kratom extract is a great way to do just that.

The extraction method usually goes something like this:

  • • Ethanol, water, or CO2 solvents are used to soak the plant and begin the extraction method. Usually, this involves a certain amount of soaking and heating as well.
  • • The plant’s alkaloids are pulled out of the plants.
  • • The alkaloids solvents are blended with the base extraction, and other natural flavors may be added as well.

If you want to avoid taking any type of extraction that includes alcohol, you can always check in with us about which extracts do and do not contain alcohol!

Extract Pros

  • • Very easy to take
  • • Can be dissolved into other liquids
  • • Typically contain more alkaloids
  • • Need to take less product to be effective due to higher concentration

Extract Cons

  • • Missing balanced plant extract; contains most alkaloids
  • • Can upset some people’s stomachs

Kratom: The Choice is Yours

There’s not a single way that you have to take Kratom. Powders can be mixed into smoothies, or teas can be brewed with honey and lemon flavors to make a tasty concoction that you can enjoy when needed. Or, you can simply take a capsule or tablet to get a direct serving of Kratom powder.

The point is that there are no specific rules about how you have to take Kratom. You can try these different ways; you might even find that you enjoy more than one ingestion method! In the end, the choice is yours.

Lab Testing: Why Buying Lab Tested Kratom Is Important

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Researching Kratom strains, powders, and vendors will often bring you to these words: lab tested Kratom. Often, sites (ours included!) will talk about why buying Kratom from a vendor that does lab testing for quality on their Kratom is important.

But what exactly does that mean, and why does it matter so much?

We think it’s important for Kratom consumers to be able to make informed decisions about the products that they buy and the vendors that they buy from. To be able to do this, you’ll need to know a bit more about what lab testing Kratom involves, how companies do it, and why it matters so much. Let’s get into it!

What Is Kratom Lab Testing?

Like with all botanicals, it is possible to run Kratom through a series of tests at an accredited testing laboratory to ensure that the powder is what the supplier says that it is.

In the case of Kratom lab testing, the testing is usually done to ensure all of the following:

  • • Identity, i.e. that the plant material is actually Kratom
  • • No pathogens or other contaminants present
  • • Sample does not contain high levels of heavy metals
  • • Kratom isn’t mixed with an undisclosed substance
  • • Amount of common alkaloids, mitragynine, and 7-hydroxymitragynine
  • • Alkaloids are real

For most commercially available Kratom, the amount of mitragynine present is not typically more than 2%. There is usually even less 7-hydroxymitragynine in any given substance unless it has been processed further into a tincture or extract.

As far as pathogens, it is possible that Kratom that is not processed safely by the supplier could contain the following:

  • • Coliforms
  • • Salmonella
  • • Mold or yeast

Finally, the following heavy metals should be tested for in Kratom supplies:

  • • Arsenic
  • • Lead
  • • Mercury
  • • Cadmium
  • • Nickel

When a Kratom seller tests their supply in a lab, they are typically testing for pathogens, metals, and alkaloid content to ensure that their customers will only be sold high-quality Kratom that is not dangerous to use.

Why Is Kratom Lab Testing Important?

The biggest reason that Kratom lab testing is important is to ensure both the safety and the quality of the product that is being sold to Kratom consumers.

Contaminated Kratom can cause illnesses such as a Staph or Salmonella infection, and both of these conditions can be dangerous if not treated properly. If a Kratom user gets sick from their Kratom, they might not even know that either of these infections is a risk to them!

For that reason, it’s very important that vendors do their due diligence and have their supplies regularly tested for quality and safety purposes. Without testing, they could be accidentally giving their customers an adulterated or contaminated product.

Testing is always important when consumables are being sold, and that truth is no different when it comes to Kratom.

Advocating For Safety Testing

Another reason that it is very important to test Kratom for safety is to help dispel many of the misunderstandings and misconceptions about Kratom consumption that are commonly spread.

Kratom consumption is currently a grey zone in terms of its legality. While it has not been banned in most places, it is also not regulated in most places. Instead, Kratom waits somewhere in the middle. And all it takes is one bad batch of Kratom for it to be ruled illegal and dangerous.

As a Kratom vendor, it is part of our responsibility to the community to help prove that Kratom can be safe when used and vetted properly. Like anything that you eat, it can be dangerous if the supplier was not honest about its source. For that reason, it is incredibly important to test Kratom.

Having solid testing proof about the composition and safety of Kratom – in the form of Certificates of Analysis from accredited labs – will help to advocate for its regulation as a safe and beneficial product. Any vendor that sells a product without testing is putting both their customers and the entire Kratom community at risk due to bad products.

How To Know If Lab Testing Was Done

Now we’ve come to another difficult part of understanding what goes into lab testing Kratom: how do you know that the testing was completed?

First, you’ll need to check the website of the vendor in question. Because there are not yet any widespread systems of proving whether a vendor tests their product or not, you will need to a little bit of research on your own.

Some vendors have worked with the AKA – American Kratom Association – to show that they regularly test their product and have other Good Manufacturing Practices in place, and this may be noted on their website by a seal that they are GMP Qualified.

If you do not see evidence of lab testing on a company’s website or marketing materials, ask for Certificates of Analysis. Any reputable vendor should be willing to provide you with this document that guarantees lab testing and quality assurance.

Without the legitimate proof demonstrated by Certificates of Analysis, it will be up to you to do the investigative legwork and decide whether or not you believe vendor claims that they tested a product.

Our Testing Policy

Here at Phytoextractum, we are very proud of our commitment to only selling high quality products that pass lab testing and meet all of our other rigorous standards.

In fact, we were one of the first companies to be recognized by AKA as a GMP Qualified Kratom Vendor!

This means that we have proven to AKA, through an independent third-party audit, that we follow all of the standards for both processing and manufacturing Kratom to ensure our customers’ safety. You can read our final audit report which confirmed our status as GMP qualified here.

We hope that today’s article has helped you to get a more complete understanding of what it is that we mean when we say that we are dedicated to lab testing our products to ensure that you are getting the highest quality Kratom that we can possibly offer to you at this time.

Response to FDA Statement on Heavy Metals

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April 5, 2019

Dear Valued Phytoextractum Customers,

We know many of you have seen the FDA’s most recent statement on kratom, regarding what they’re calling high levels of heavy metals found in kratom products. At Phyto, we hold the health and safety of our customers as our highest priority, and we take our responsibility to provide pure, safe products seriously. Because of this commitment to our customers, we are constantly working to stay current with Good Manufacturing Practices, and we recently underwent a third-party audit to validate our GMP compliance.

We’d like to address a few things in the FDA’s statement:

First, it’s troubling that we have never been contacted by the FDA about high levels of metals in our products. We are registered as a dry food facility with the FDA, which led us to believe that it was incumbent upon them to alert us to any concerns regarding the safety of our products.

Phytoextractum has no information regarding the samples the FDA used in their tests, including when or how the FDA acquired our products or when they tested the samples they obtained.

We can only assume that they were part of samples taken and tested as part of an FDA investigation of an unrelated food safety issue in March of 2018. FDA representatives were at our facility for several days, inspecting, taking samples, and meeting with our company. They never mentioned an issue with metals at that time.

If these samples are from that investigation, their product lots were pulled from the market over 12 months ago as part of the extensive recall we did in cooperation with the FDA. Further, it would indicate that the FDA was rehashing old information, not in an attempt to protect the public, but as a way to target and further stigmatize kratom. 

Additionally, the numbers the FDA is publicizing are misleading. While their recommendations for the presence of heavy metals use the ‘micrograms per kilogram’ format, their recently publicized metal levels are represented in the ‘nanograms per gram’ format.

The FDA is not changing the numbers, i.e. the analytical data, but they are changing how the numbers are presented and therefore interpreted in order to draw more attention to this issue than it actually warrants. If this were an actual threat to public health, we expect the FDA would have moved more quickly to alert vendors and consumers about specific affected products.

While Phyto has always prioritized customer safety, in the year since our product recall we have fine-tuned our policies and procedures to achieve compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices as defined by the FDA and to become an American Kratom Association GMP Qualified vendor. This includes comprehensive lab testing for identity, purity, and contaminants such as high levels of heavy metals for all products.

After learning of the FDA’s statement on heavy metals in kratom products, we consulted our testing laboratory. They reviewed our test results and provided the following information: “all metals analyzed in here are at less than limits concentrations assuming that daily [serving] is 10 g. For example, Lead result is 0.450 mg/Kg with the limit of 0.5 mg/Kg. So, it is a PASS result based on USP limits [see chart below].“

We never introduce products to the market that do not pass rigorous quality assurance tests and meet our own high standards. Our company keeps Certificates of Analysis on file for all products, we and are happy to share those with our customers at their request.

Please feel free to contact our customer support team with any questions you may have about our products or practices.

Georgia State Senate Unanimously Approves Kratom Bill

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Another legislatively victory for the kratom community! The Georgia State Senate has unanimously passed the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, following its approval in the Georgia House by an overwhelming 164-1 vote. The bill now goes to the Governor’s office, to be signed into law.

The Kratom Consumer Protection Act will keep consumers safe from adulterated or mislabeled kratom products. It will also ensure the future of kratom by demanding that responsible, compliant vendors step up to lead the industry. We applaud the work of the American Kratom Association, organizing and educating in Georgia. Of course, this progress would not be possible without the political will and engagement of kratom consumers like you.

Phytoextractum is a proud supporter of the American Kratom Association, and we hope our customers will be too! Their important work is funded by donations and volunteer work from vendors and consumers. Please support the AKA however you are able!

Georgia Update from the AKA:

Georgia State Senate Unanimously Approves Kratom Bill

Utah Passes Kratom Consumer Protection Act

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We’ve just learned from the American Kratom Association that the Kratom Consumer Protection Act has been passed and signed into law in Utah! This important legislation will protect kratom consumers from adulterated, contaminated, and mislabeled products and will encourage a responsible and compliant kratom industry.

We are grateful to the AKA for their leadership on this issue and their diligence in educating Utah’s lawmakers about kratom, to the legislators who championed our cause, and to all the vendors and consumers who supported this effort on the ground in various ways.

Because of the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, consumers are safer – and so is kratom. Phytoextractum is proud to support the AKA’s important work and to be an AKA GMP Qualified Kratom Vendor. We encourage all kratom consumers to learn more about the AKA’s efforts and to support them however you can!

From the American Kratom Association:

Phytoextractum is an AKA GMP Qualified Kratom Vendor

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Phytoextractum is proud to be an American Kratom Association Good Manufacturing Practices Qualified Kratom Vendor. This accreditation demonstrates our commitment to compliance, cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices), and our customers. Here are a just a few of the recent improvements we’ve implemented:

• Environmental controls to test for pathogens in the facility
• Revamped sanitation controls policies and procedures
• More rigorous screening process for suppliers and products
• Milling and blending process to allow for more accurate testing
• More comprehensive testing protocols
• The use of two or more labs in testing our product

We have always employed extremely stringent receiving, testing, and quarantine procedures to ensure the safety and purity of our products. Within the last few months, we’ve enhanced these processes so we can be sure that we identify any potential contamination or adulteration. We’ve moved our testing to new labs (with a secondary lab acting as a failsafe), and we’re sharing our educational resources with suppliers as well as other vendors. Our company is taking all measures necessary not only to guarantee the safety of our customers, but also to protect our industry as a whole.  

Phytoextractum only offers Kratom Tea products for sale that are tested for identification, heavy metals content ([AOAC 2013.06] Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, Mercury) and for microbial safety (Aerobic Plate Count [AOAC 990.12], Yeast and Mold [AOAC 997.02], Coliforms and E Coli [AOAC 991.4], and Salmonella [AOAC-RI 050701]), and only products which pass these tests will be available to order.

We hope all kratom companies will take seriously their responsibility to prevent unsafe products from entering the market, and we urge consumers to conduct due diligence when choosing a kratom vendor. Don’t be afraid to ask important questions about their manufacturing practices and testing, or to request Certificates of Analysis from accredited laboratories. Reputable vendors will have no problem answering these queries and should be able to provide you with information about their products and processes.

American Kratom Association Phytoextractum

The health and safety of kratom consumers is important to us. It’s why we aim to be compliant with Good Manufacturing Practices and why we’ve recently undergone a third party audit of our facility and processes. The Phytoextractum team is steadfast in our commitment to providing safe and effective products for our customers and we appreciate the opportunity to serve you!