What is the difference between vegan and non-vegan vitamin D3?
Most of the vitamin D3 products are derived from lanolin which is a type of grease that coats sheep’s wool. Lanolin is also known as wool yolk, made by wool-bearing animals, mainly sheep.
Most Vegan Vitamin D3 products are made from a varying mixture of algae and lichen fungus species and are also known as lichen vitamin D3. In simple terms, lichen is a slow-growing plant that usually forms a low crusty, leaf-like, or branch-like growth on rocks, walls, and trees. It is a composite organism that builds from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a symbiotic (mutual) relationship. Lichens have different properties from those of its component organisms.
Our Vegan Vitamin D3 is made from algae alone. It's produced using 100% non-GMO algae. NMR testing has shown that it's chemically-identical to animal sources of Vitamin D3 including sheep’s wool grease (lanolin) and animal carcasses. So it can be used as a direct substitute for the lanolin variety. But unlike sheep’s wool, the extraction process uses zero pesticides meaning that the chance of residual pesticides is non-existent in the Vitamin D3 ingredient that we use in our tablets. Our Vitamin D3 ingredient is of 100% plant-source making it suitable for everyone including Vegans and Vegetarians.
Are Vitamin D Supplements Effective? We think so. Click to view article.