Pygeum Extract
Pygeum extract is prepared from the bark of the African cherry tree, Prunus africana, formerly classified as Pygeum africanum. It is a lipophilic extract rather than a water soluble one, and its characteristic constituents are phytosterols led by beta-sitosterol and its glucoside, pentacyclic triterpenes including ursolic and oleanolic acid, and long chain fatty alcohols and ferulic acid esters such as n-docosanol and n-tetracosanol.
The material is traded almost entirely as a standardised botanical for men's health supplements and for traditional herbal medicinal products, where it is positioned on prostate comfort and urinary flow. It has no technological function in food and is not used as a flavour, colour or preservative.
Commercial extract is a brown to dark brown powder or a soft resinous concentrate with a faint woody odour. The sterol and fatty alcohol fractions are practically insoluble in water and soluble in ethanol, ethyl acetate and vegetable oils, so the extract is normally presented in softgels in an oil base or adsorbed onto a carrier for capsule filling. The lipophilic constituents are stable to heat and to normal storage but the material picks up moisture and cakes if not packed against humidity.
We source bulk Pygeum Extract from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Fujian. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
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- Function
- Plant extract
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Brown to dark brown fine powder |
| Odour and Taste | Faint woody aroma, slightly bitter |
| Total Phytosterols as beta-sitosterol (GC) | ≥ 13.0% |
| Identification | Conforms by GC and TLC against reference bark extract |
| Extraction Ratio | 100:1 native extract |
| Loss on Drying | ≤ 5.0% |
| Total Ash | ≤ 5.0% |
| Acid Insoluble Ash | ≤ 1.0% |
| Particle Size | 100% through 80 mesh |
| Residual Ethanol | ≤ 0.5% |
| Residual Chlorinated Solvent | ≤ 10 mg/kg |
| Lead | ≤ 2.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | ≤ 1.0 mg/kg |
| Total Plate Count | ≤ 10,000 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | ≤ 100 cfu/g |
| E. coli | Negative |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The conventional trade specification is a 100:1 or 200:1 lipophilic extract standardised on total phytosterols, usually at 13 or 14 percent calculated as beta-sitosterol, which is the level used in the clinical literature and the one buyers ask for. Grades standardised at 2.5 percent total sterols are also traded for blending, and ratio extracts at 4:1 or 10:1 without a sterol marker are sold for lower cost formulations.
The critical commercial variable is not assay but origin. Prunus africana is listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, so every consignment requires export permits and documented sustainable bark harvesting, and material without that documentation is not tradable in the major markets. Grades are therefore distinguished by their certification and country of origin as much as by their sterol content. Physical forms cover powder adsorbed on maltodextrin or microcrystalline cellulose at 80 mesh, and oil dispersion for softgel filling.
Applications
- Men's health supplements in softgel and capsule form standardised on phytosterol content
- Prostate comfort formulations, usually combined with saw palmetto, nettle root and pumpkin seed oil
- Urinary comfort blends aimed at older men, the dominant supplement category for the extract
- Traditional herbal medicinal products registered on the historic use of the bark
- Multi-botanical men's daily formulas alongside zinc, lycopene and selenium
- Hair and scalp preparations, where the sterol and fatty alcohol fraction is used in thinning hair products
- Veterinary supplements for canine prostate support
Brands Using Pygeum Extract
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Pygeum Extract on the ingredient label.
- Country LifeSaw Palmetto & Pygeum Extract ↗Prostate formula whose 318 mg proprietary blend combines pygeum extract with phytosterols and lipase alongside saw palmetto oil.Label verified 2026-08-31
- BulkSupplementsPygeum Africanum Extract Capsules ↗Single-ingredient capsule of pygeum africanum extract, described as supplying phytosterols, fatty acids and polyphenols.Label verified 2026-08-31
- SolarayPygeum & Saw Palmetto Extracts 420 mg ↗Capsule pairing pygeum bark extract with saw palmetto berry extract at 420 mg per serving.Label verified 2026-08-31
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Pygeum Extract
Top Pygeum Extract manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States pygeum bark extract is sold as a dietary ingredient under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, on the basis of a history of use in supplements. It has no food additive regulation, no colour additive listing and no entry among substances generally recognised as safe, so it is not used as a general food ingredient. Claims are limited to structure and function statements, and any claim to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia would place the product in the drug category. Import and export are additionally controlled by the Fish and Wildlife Service under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
In the European Union the extract carries no E number because it is not an additive. Prunus africana bark preparations have a history of use in the Union as herbal medicinal products, and the European Medicines Agency has published a herbal monograph covering the lipophilic bark extract, which supports well established and traditional use registrations. Regulation 338/97, the Union instrument implementing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, governs trade; under it Prunus africana is a listed species requiring permits and, at times, subject to import suspensions from particular countries. Codex has no standard for the material and the Joint FAO WHO Expert Committee has not evaluated it.
Manufacturing Process
Bark is stripped from mature standing trees under a managed rotation that removes opposite quarters of the trunk so the tree survives and regenerates, and the harvest is documented for the export permit system. The bark is air dried, chipped and milled to a coarse powder. Because the target constituents are lipophilic, extraction uses chloroform in the classical process or, in modern plants, ethanol, ethyl acetate or supercritical carbon dioxide, which avoid the chlorinated solvent and its residue problem.
The milled bark is extracted in counter current flow over several stages and the miscella is filtered to remove fines. Solvent is recovered in a falling film evaporator followed by vacuum stripping, bringing residual solvent within the permitted limit and leaving a crude resinous extract that also carries tannins and waxes. This crude is washed with a hydrocarbon solvent or with dilute alkali to remove the tannin fraction, then treated with activated carbon to reduce colour. The purified extract is assayed by gas chromatography for total sterols, standardised by blending with a carrier or with a stronger batch to the target percentage, dried under vacuum at low temperature, milled and packed under nitrogen with the origin and permit documentation attached.
