Ingredient Details

We understand that if you have a need for an elemental food product, details about ingredients will be important to you.

This page aims to provide more information about the ingredients used and the reasons for their inclusion. If you have a specific query about ingredients, nutrients or allergens please feel free to contact us and we'll do our best to provide the information you need.

Balanced Nutrition

How is ElementGold Plus⁺ Balanced?

As a food, ElementGold Plus⁺ conforms to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code which determines what can be sold as food in Australia and New Zealand, including how food should labelled. Note that as food, ElementGold Plus⁺ is not handled by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

The Food Standards Code contains a section called Food for Special Medical Purposes (FSMP), which outlines specific rules for foods formulated for situations where there is a medically determined nutritient required. ElementGold Plus⁺ was originally formulated for nutritional support of sufferers of Crohn's Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and so conforms to these additional FSMP requirements in the Food Standards Code.

FSMP and Balanced Nutrition

ElementGold Plus⁺ conforms to the Food for Special Medical Purposes (FSMP) part of the code, including the section for foods that are intended to be uses as a sole source of nutrition (i.e the only food you would eat) for a period of time. Such use must be under the guidance of a medical professional and means it is important to get the balance of nutritients right. The code does this by:

Stipulating which forms of vitamins, minerals and amino acids are allowed. There are often many forms of a vitamin or mineral and only certain ones are considered suitable for use in this type of food. Of the allowable forms careful selections have been made taking into the account the gastrointestinal sensitivites of ElementGold Plus⁺ users.
Providing maximum and/or minimum amounts that can be added for many vitamins and minerals.

As we know people eat different amounts and so require different amounts of nutrients. The code handles this by setting amounts relative to one megajoule of food. By conforming to the FSMP section of the code ElementGold Plus⁺ provides a balance of nutrition for people using this food under medical supervision but this also benefits people using ElementGold Plus⁺ for more general use when at a nutrition risk due to diet modification.

Vitamins, Minerals and Anino Acids

All versions of ElementGold Plus⁺ have the same base nutrients in amounts conforming to the Food for Special Medical Purposes part of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

Vitamins

VITAMIN E (D-ALPHA-TOCOPHERYL ACETATE)
CALCIUM ASCORBATE
BETA CAROTENE
RIBOFLAVIN
THIAMIN MONONITRATE
CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE
NIACINAMIDE
VITAMIN K1
PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE
VITAMIN D3
VITAMIN A ACETATE
FOLATE (CALCIUM L-METHYLFOLATE)
VITAMIN B12 (HYDROXOCOBALAMIN CHLORIDE)

Minerals

POTASSIUM CITRATE
CALCIUM PHOSPHATE
SODIUM CHLORIDE
MAGNESIUM CITRATE
INOSITOL
ZINC BISGLYCINATE
FERRIC PYROPHOSPHATE
POTASSIUM IODIDE
MANGANESE CITRATE
COPPER CITRATE
SELENIUM METHIONINE
SODIUM MOLYBDATE
BIOTIN
CHROMIUM PICOLINATE

Amino Acids

L-GLUTAMINE
GLYCINE
L-ASPARTIC ACID
L-TYROSINE
L-PROLINE
L-THREONINE
L-ALANINE
L-SERINE
L-GLUTAMIC ACID
L-CYSTEINE

Protein

Protein and Elemental Foods

Elemental foods aim to provide all ingredients in the most broken down form possible. In the case of protein this would mean using only free-form amino acids. Although important, the elemental free-form amino acids do not provide enough of the body's protein requirements, particularly when trying to maintain weight. This is why ElementGold Plus⁺ and ElementGold Plus⁺ Vegan add whole protein to a base of elemental amino acids. ElementGold Plus⁺ adds a premium form of Whey Protein Isolate and in the case of ElementGold Plus⁺ Vegan protein derived from rice is used.

Not all Whey Protein Isolate is the same

ElementGold Plus⁺ has Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) added to complete the balance of protein and uses the highest quality WPI to minimise triggering of sensitive digestive systems and maximise protein quality.

Milk can be separated into the solid components and the liquid component known as whey. Whey contains about 12% protein which has excellent nutritional value but also has sugar (in the form of lactose), minerals and fats. There are various ways to extract the proteins from whey into a dry powder with different protein powders as a result:

Whey protein concentrate contains around 70-80% protein.
Whey protein isolate contains at least 90% protein.
Whey protein isolate extracted using the Ion-Exchange method

The protein added to ElementGold Plus⁺ is whey protein isolate extracted using the Ion-Exchange method which is specified to contain at least 95% protein but typically has 97.7^±0.7% protein.

Unlike filtration and membrane methods, the Ion-Exchange process uses electrically-charged plastic beads to attract proteins, allowing the lactose, casein and minerals to be washed away. It is a gentle process that not only maximises the amount of protein extracted but minimises denaturing of the proteins.

Contains Milk?

The ElementGold Plus⁺ ingredients listing contains the phrase "CONTAINS MILK" in compliance with Australia/New Zealand Food Standards Code. This is required because the proteins added were isolated from milk whey.

In ElementGold Plus⁺, the purity of the protein, means that the components of milk that typically trigger digestive symptoms are removed or are at such low levels that they are extremely unlikely to cause problems. If your healthcare professional has directed you to avoid milk try to confirm the element of milk they are looking for you to avoid (such as lactose and casein) and compare to the levels found in ElementGold. If the Whey Protein Isolate in ElementGold Plus⁺ is not suitable then consider ElementGold Plus⁺ Vegan, which uses a protein extracted from rice (see below for details).

Lactose One of the most common ingredients sufferers are looking to avoid is lactose. Lactose is the sugar found naturally in milk (just as fructose is the sugar found in fruit) and lactose sensitivity at some level is not uncommon.

A typical 325ml glass of regular milk (the same volume as a serve of ElementGold), contains 20.5g of lactose. A 325ml serve of ElementGold contains just 0.07g of lactose, meaning you would need to drink over 290 glasses of ElementGold to consume the same amount of lactose as a single glass of milk.

As your digestive system adjusts to food in an elemental form it is not uncommon to experience bloating or loose motion as you adjust (remembering there is no fibrous material in ElementGold). These symptoms are sometime attributed to lactose or other milk-related components but due to the type of WPI used, this is often not the cause. If you are unsure, please consult a healthcare professional.

Rice Protein

The plant-based protein added to ElementGold Plus⁺ Vegan is derived from whole grain brown rice.

Protein is extracted from all layers of the whole grain rice (including bran, germ and endosperm). The extraction process uses low-heat to minimise denaturing of delicate proteins, is hexane-free and no other synthetic chemicals are used. The result is a high-quality plant-based protein comparable to whey protein isolate in terms of potential for building muscle.

Typically, the protein powder contains 86.8% protein, the remainder includes small amounts of fats, carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins and minerals, all of which are accounted for in the ElementGold Plus⁺ Vegan nutrition tables. The rice protein powder is less 'fluffy' than the whey protein isolate and takes up less space, which is why ElementGold Plus⁺ Vegan tubs are small than for the same amount of ElementGold Plus⁺.