Artichoke Extract 450 mg | 90 Capsules | NOW Foods

NOW Foods Artichoke Extract 450 mg

Looking for a standalone artichoke extract? This NOW Foods formula contains 450 mg of artichoke extract per vegetarian capsule, sourced from the Cynara scolymus leaf. It's a single plant extract, without a broad blend. One bottle contains 90 capsules.

What Artichoke Is

Artichoke (Cynara scolymus) is a thistly plant from the Mediterranean basin. What we know as a vegetable is actually the still-closed flower bud, harvested before the plant comes into bloom. In the kitchen, it's all about this bud, but in supplements, a different part is used: the leaf. Artichoke has been cultivated since antiquity around the Mediterranean, where the plant held a place both as food and in traditional phytotherapy. The leaves naturally contain a bitter plant substance called cynarin, a characteristic compound of artichoke that gives it its typical bitter taste. Artichoke is closely related to cardoon, another thistle, and belongs to the same plant family as sunflowers and daisies. The name artichoke dates back, via Italian, to an Arabic word, a trace of the long journey the plant made across the Mediterranean basin.

Why Specifically a Leaf Extract

This product uses an extract from the artichoke leaf, not the edible bud. It is in the leaf that the characteristic plant substances are most concentrated, which is why plant extracts are generally made from the leaf. An extract means that the plant material has been processed to gather these substances into a compact quantity: 450 mg per capsule. This way, in a small capsule, you get a fixed amount of artichoke extract, instead of the variable amounts you would get by consuming fresh or cooked artichoke. Since the amount per capsule is fixed, you know precisely how much artichoke extract you are consuming with each dose. This is the whole difference from consuming the vegetable: the quantity of characteristic leaf substances you get from a cooked artichoke on your plate varies greatly and is difficult to control, whereas a capsule always provides the same measured amount.

A Clear and Vegetarian Formula

The composition is clear: artichoke extract as the main ingredient, supplemented only by a few functional excipients such as rice flour, silicon dioxide, and plant-derived magnesium stearate. The capsule is hypromellose-based and therefore vegetarian. There is no broad blend of plants, no ten extracts in one bottle, but only artichoke. This keeps the ingredient list short and makes it easier to plan with other supplements you use. The vegetarian capsule is also suitable for those who do not want gelatin, which is not always the case with plant extracts. Each bottle contains 90 capsules, which, at one capsule per day, corresponds to a three-month supply.