Samento vs. Saventaro
Vitamin Research News, Vol. 18, Number 8, September 2004

Dear Vitamin Research Products: What is the difference between the Samento (liquid cat’s claw extract) and Saventaro (cat’s claw extract)?

Response by James South, M.A., Vitamin Research Products’ Director of Research and Development

Saventaro is a TOA-free powder extract of cat’s claw (TOA stands for tetracyclic oxindole alkaloids). Each capsule provides 20 mg of the powder, which contains 1.3 percent (260 mcg) POA (pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids). Samento is a water/alcohol extract of TOA-free cat’s claw. It is made from a TOA-free cat’s claw powder that contains 0.5 percent POA. The company that makes Samento, NutraMedix®, also produces a 600 mg capsule of the 0.5 percent POA powder, yielding 3 mg (3,000 mcg) POA per capsule. Physicians working with NutraMedix have reported from their clinical experience that just one drop of the liquid Samento extract is functionally equivalent to one 600 mg powder capsule. This is not surprising, since most herbalists would agree that a water/alcohol extract is the best way to liberate the bioactive compounds (POAs, quinovic acid glycosides, triterpenes, etc.) from the plant fiber matrix of the powdered herb. Many people who have tried the liquid Samento extract initially experience a Herxheimer (“die-off”) reaction from just one or two drops, twice daily, a clear sign of the potency of the liquid extract. Physicians using Samento with their patients generally have found that just five drops, taken two or three times daily, provide an excellent therapeutic response, although a dosage as high as 10 to 15 drops three times daily has been used in some difficult cases. I have been using the liquid Samento extract since early January 2004, and have seen a tremendous improvement in my health. It is one of my absolute “don’t leave home without it” supplements.