I welcome the exchange though, as an opportunity to explain that. Yes, certainly osmolality is a common test method for blood serum, plasma, urine, and even watery stool. Sorry to disappoint but what our team of scientists does at The Osmolality Lab is quite UNLIKELY to qualify for an illustrious appearance on Mike Rowe’s TV show “Dirty Jobs.” WE TEST PRODUCTS!
What is Osmolality Testing?
Very simply put, osmolality is a measure of how much one substance has dissolved in another substance. This is the exact type of information product researchers, developers, manufacturers, QC, QA, want to ascertain, especially when it comes to drinks, functional beverages, water, gels, creams, ointments, and just about any topicals. But osmolality measurement isn’t just useful information, there are certain products such as personal lubricants where the FDA actually requires osmolality testing.
So, why test products for osmolality? Osmolality testing is key to understanding and optimizing absorptions, purity, stability, characterization, shelf-life, and more. These variables are critical to overall product quality and consistency. Anyone with questions about a product’s potential behavior should look to osmolality.
I love what our laboratory does and what we can offer to product developers, researchers, manufacturers, etc. I am genuinely enthused to work with experienced and rigorous scientists that can provide key information to support product quality.
If there is a downside of working with a laboratory that performs osmolality testing on products, but not on biohazards, I can think of only one. I have a son in 6th grade. He has friends and their 12-year-old minds seem readily tantalized by the thoughts of anything that comes out of the human body. Oh, the drama that could have been created!
