Swim is looking for a cheap source of Fumaric acid in the UK, swim feels that the £20-odd for 45g from health food shops is a bit too steep. Swim also noticed that the stuff from health food shops might actually be Fumaric acid esters (which is the stuff that might work for psoriasis as normal fumaric acid is metabolised) so unless the health foodies are conning people into buying something that doesn't work (Before anyone says it - I know that they do).

Where is the best and cheapest place to get some fumaric acid in the UK?

I'd be interested in knowing this too.

No venda in UK, fellas

A FOAF is getting some soon and will be selling 50g batches on ebay or such like - if anyones interested.

Very good to know, SWIM's FOAF is having a rush of psoriasis lately (seriously) so he will need some for medical purposes.

Should you sell at a good price, he will give it a try to soothe his horrible itching!

Yes a Psoriasis treatment, and its also apparently good for stopping malolactic fermentation in wine. But SWIMS FOAF's favourite is the use as a sour additive for sweets - the main reason for purchase

I believe the pricing will be around the £3 mark plus P&P. He just needs to find a decent method of packaging and thinks a ziplocks might come in handy.

Is it food grade or lab grade?

I believe it to be food grade 99.5% minimum

Food grade has little to do with the purity. It's rated more by what the impurities are. For example, you can have 99.9% ACS grade that is nearly pure but contains unhealthy impurities so it doesn't meet the food grade (FCC grade) standards. Food grade could be only 90% pure, but contain only edible things as the impurities.

For example food grade sodium carbonate might be 90% pure with sodium bicarbonate as the impurity, while ACS grade sodium carbonate might be 99.9% pure with lead as one of the contaminants. That amount of lead, although small, would make in unsuitable for use in food or drugs.

Most of the solvents people are using to extract DMT with are 99.9% pure ACS grade (often sold as technical grade but actually ACS grade), but still not food grade.

Food grade is often very cheap. ACS grade is very pricey, and technical grade is sometimes about the same price as food grade.

Another grade that’s of use is USP grade. These are highly pure and contain impurities that are considered safe for ingestion, similar to food grade, but often very expensive.

SO is food grade OK to use?

Should be; the one SWIM's FOAF is using for his psoriasis treatment is food grade and of unknown purity, but still does the job.

So... not too many worries about that

So fumaric acid actually works for psoriasis? I thought it was just the esters that worked

Slightly better than placebo for SWIM's friend of a friend. But this is how they are being marketed in health supplies stores.

With psoriasis being mostly a genetic condition, it is easy to see why fumaric acid may work for some people but not for others.

What grades shouldn't SWIM use?

The healthiest are FCC (food grade) or USP (drug grade). All of the other forms are potentially toxic to ingest and cannot legally be used for food or drug purposes.

The next best thing is ACS grade. Lab or tech grade is the worst. You might get really sick ingesting lab or tech grade, or possibly even die from it. Tech or lab grade can legally contain extremely toxic impurities. ACS grade can too, but not as much as tech or lab grade.

SWIMS FOAF is still waiting on his delivery but noticed he could get technical grade from another source (cheaper) just incase his delivery never appears.

From the MSDS on technical grade he noticed that it can be used for animal feeds and the manufacture of Mono sodium fumarate and ferrous fumarate (both used in edible things), plus the impurity levels are very similar to food grade.

Does anyone think this would be safe for making fumarates specifically for freebasing or even for ingesting with MAOI??

FOAF now has his Fumaric acid (food grade) and is preparing to put it up on ebay UK this weekend. Or maybe he should wait until after Xmas - I will need to ask him.

SWIM can finally get some extraction experiments on the go - he has some chali, mimosa and loads of rue.

Happy days are nearly here.

One could use citric acid...

supersmart got some, but it's pretty expensive.