by Catherine Haug, June 25, 2012
You know what soap scum is – that white gluey stuff that appears in your bathtub, shower stall, kitchen sink and washing machine, especially if you have hard water, and it’s especially hard to wash off these surfaces. It can also leave a thin filmy coating on your hair after shampooing, or your skin after bathing.
But did you know that it is an ingredient in most encapsulated or tablet supplements and prescriptions? The manufacturers of these medications add magnesium or calcium stearate to the medication powders as a lubricant so the powders will pass more readily through the processing machinery. This additive isn’t removed before packing the powders in capsules or pressing them into pills, so remains in the product you buy.
What is magnesium or calcium stearate? Soap scum. What’s the harm? What can you do? Read on.
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