BY TERRASEED / August 18, 2021
When most people think of supplements, what comes to mind are little pills that help us stay healthy. On a surface level, they seem so innocent that it can be hard to make the connection between nutrients and the animals harmed in order to make them. The horrifying truth is that the majority of today’s supplements contain animal derived ingredients.
These ingredients include Omega-3s derived from fish, Vitamin D derived from sheep, and Collagen made from ground up animal bones and tissues. Sometimes they are the main nutrients in the supplement, and other times they are non-dietary fillers in the form of Gelatin or Magnesium Stearate. The latter can often be found hidden under “inactive ingredients” on the nutrition label.
Here’s the dark secret the supplement industry keeps hidden deeply in its shadow: the use of these animal byproducts directly contributes to the killing of over 24 billion animals every year. This includes the death of 24.3 billion fish, 14.4 million pigs, 3.6 million cows, and 244.1 thousand sheep.
Aside from the tremendous loss of life and the unfathomable amount of suffering these animals endure, the use of these animal byproducts also contributes to a plethora of environmental problems associated with animal agriculture. Overfishing, plastic from industrial fishing nets and issues with bycatch plague our oceans. All contained bio waste from factory farms contaminates our groundwater and contributes to ocean acidification and listeria outbreaks. Animal agriculture is a double-edged sword on our climate as it ravages and clear cuts our forests while emitting large volumes of methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Perhaps even more shocking is the fact that there isn’t a single animal-based ingredient that can’t be replaced by a readily available plant-based alternative. Whether it is Chlorophyll in place of Gelatin, Omega-3s from algae instead of fish, or Vitamin D3 from lichen instead of sheep, there is an equally effective, vegan alternative for any nutrient or carrier. Sacrifice-free!
So the question becomes: With all of this information, why do companies continue to use animal-based ingredients when there are viable alternatives? While we can’t answer for other companies, for Terraseed, the answer is obvious. This is why we are and always will be a 100% vegan company. We will continue to provide healthier alternatives to traditional supplements so we can help protect the environment and save animal lives.
Learn more about Terraseed and our mission here.