Have you been shopping for good quality neem but did not know what to look for? Neem products are slowly becoming more widely available, but as of now are mostly only found on the internet or in health food shoppes and other out of the way places. Because it is hard to find these products it is easy to grab the first thing you find on the shelf just because it has the word neem on the label. But here are a few tips that will help you choose wisely before you stock up on the wrong stuff-
Know How The Neem Oil Was Extracted From The Seeds There are several methods commonly used today to extract the neem oil from the neem tree seeds. As you may have guessed, not all extraction process are to be trusted. The best extraction method that produces the most desirable neem seed oil is called cold pressing. Cold pressing neem oil is the best, as the majority of the active compounds remain intact. Cold pressing is also the oldest extracting process. It utilizes a mechanical device that squeezes the oil out of the seeds. Always make sure to buy only cold pressed neem oil where possible.
A second common way to extract the oil from the seeds uses hot water vapor and high pressure. Though this technique gets more oil from the seeds than cold pressing, a lot of the active compounds in the neem oil are often made useless due to the heat used in the process.
The third process is the most preferred one that most neem processors use because it yields the most oil. It is called chemical solvent extraction, and almost always hexane (also known as gasoline) is the solvent that is used. Even though this technique extracts nearly all of the neem oil from the seeds, the chemicals render useless many of the desireable compounds in the neem. And along with this and the fact that the chemical is poisonous, it is highly recommended that you look for neem products that do not contain solvent extracted neem oil.
Avoid Additives Most bath and beauty items these days contain chemicals to “enhance” the products performance. At the same time, some of these compounds are known to actually cause adverse side effects. Two of the most common compounds that may be in most products today are Lauryl Sulfates and Parabens. Lauryl Sulfates are often used as foamers, because they are cheap and work particularly well. The majority of inexpensive neem oil products use these additives as well. But, these chemicals are known to have some side effects. The US Food and Drug Administration encourages manufacturers not to use them.
Parabens are common preservatives, and though there has been no real studies showing that that they are harmful, they are starting to be avoided by many. Some organizations feel they should be avoided in order to err on the side of safety.
Buy Only Products That Contain Certified Organic Ingredients For obvious reasons, organic ingredients are better than others. These ingredients are all natural, and have not been exposed to man-made chemicals, synthetic fertilizers, plant growth regulators, pesticides or similar chemicals. Look for labels that list the ingredients. If a producer uses these ingredients, they will almost always state this (it’s a selling point) somewhere on the product.
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