Natural pearls form without human assistance -- when a foreign object, such as a parasite or piece of shell, accidentally lodges itself in an oyster's soft inner body where it cannot be expelled. This happens so rarely that, today, nearly all natural pearls one sees are in estate jewelry collections.

Absolutely not. Cultured pearls, like natural pearls, are grown within live oysters. Each begins when a skilled technician surgically implants a host oyster with a shell bead and piece of mantle tissue. To protect itself, the oyster secretes a crystalline substance, called "nacre," over the irritant. Over time, the nacre layers build on one another, creating a surface that glows with a luster unique to true pearls.

Pearls have been bought and sold for thousands of years, but there still is no widely accepted standardized grading system, though individual vendors may use their own. Because no two pearls are ever alike, such a grading system would require hundreds of quality parameters. Also, the fact remains that some gem-quality pearls are so distinctive they defy comparison.

Absolutely not! Whatever the color, it is 100% natural. The pearl may end up being white though most normally, it varies from shades of gray to black, bronze and even greenish or purplish.

They are cultivated in pearl farms found primarily in the lagoons of the Tuamotu and Gambier Archipelagos -- a sprawling group of atolls and islands in French Polynesia.

Look for body color, lustre, overtone, and orient in the shadow area (not where the light reflects). Higher quality pearls have a clear color with few blemishes. Pearls come in many colors (black pearls are made from yellow or green pearls which have had acid dropped on the nucleus - it is very difficult to differentiate the natural from the cultured black pearls).

The pearl producers represented by Perles de Tahiti produce and export only 100 percent naturally colored cultured pearls.

Yes, in about one of 15,000 pearl oysters! However, it is illegal to dive for oysters for the purpose of finding a natural pearl, as the natural stocks would be quickly depleted.

Natural (not cultured) black pearls still occur very rarely, about one in every 10,000 oysters. It is illegal to dive for oysters for the purpose of finding a natural pearl, since the natural stocks would quickly be depleted.

They result from the decomposition of light as it passes through the pearl layers, which act as a prism. The layers break up the light the same way a raindrop does when light passes through it creating a rainbow.

Plankton, the microscopic animal and plant life found floating or drifting in the lagoons where the pearl farms are located.

Strictly speaking, natural pearls are those created without any human intervention whereas cultured pearls require human intervention.

Natural' often is misrepresented in product labeling to imply 'healthful,' but 'natural' only means that the product has undergone minimal processing. Unlike products that are certified organic, natural products have no certification or inspection system. Also, 'natural' does not necessarily relate to growing methods or the use of preservatives.

These pearls originate within a saltwater mollusk. Most pearls are cultured, because of lack of efficient and un-polluted waters it is rare to find natural Pearls. Salt water cultured pearls are mostly found in Japan, however, China has greatly improved there quality to match Japanese Saltwater pearls, such as the Akoya pearls from Japan. Freshwater pearl refers to a natural or cultured pearl that grows inside of a freshwater mollusk-which lives in a river or a lake.

A freshwater pearl is a pearl that is cultured in a mussel in a lake, whereas the traditional saltwater pearl is cultured in an oyster in the ocean. Generally, the freshwater cultured pearls are less expensive than the Akoya pearls. South Sea Pearls are also grown in the sea, but are generally a larger size than the Akoya pearls and also more expensive.

Natural hormones are, in fact, bioidentical hormones. The fact that the bioidentical hormones come from natural plants (soy or yam plants) does not make them bioidentical. From there they are taken to a chemical plant where they are further processed into the bioidentical forms. They are further tested for bioidentical purity, so that when a compounding pharmacy receives these products they are ready to be compounded into different dosage forms.

Most of our inventory is in China with some in San Diego, Ca USA. VistaPearls maintains a strong presence in Asia, especially East China to ensure a high level of trust and quality inspection. This makes us different from many other online pearl websites our main office is in Shanghai. Our proximity to pearl farms, allow us to have a high-quality inventory, to assure our customers receive the very best, from our trustworthy pearl farms.

Wholly natural. Brewer's yeast may be the best source of the vitamin-B complex, so Marmite is rich with natural vitamin-B, as well as riboflavin and niacin.