{{Short description|Medicinal products manufacturer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox company |name = Heilerde-Gesellschaft Luvos Just GmbH & Co. KG |logo = Luvos Logo.svg |logo_size = 220px |type = Private |foundation = 1918 |founder = Adolf Just (1859–1936) |location = Friedrichsdorf, Hesse, Germany |key_people = Ariane Kaestner |industry = Naturopathic medicine and cosmetics |products = Medicinal clay-based medicine and cosmetics |num_employees = 15 |revenue = {{profit}} € 4 million (2005)<ref>Linda Chapman: ''Wer und Was: Pharmazeutische Industrie'' (2005), Behr's Verlag, 299 pp. {{ISBN|3-89947-154-7}}</ref> |homepage = [http://www.luvos.de/ luvos.de] }} '''Heilerde-Gesellschaft Luvos Just GmbH & Co. KG''' is a German manufacturer of medicinal clay (''Heilerde'', "healing-earth")-based products for both internal and external application. Four different fineness grades of loess in both capsule and powder form are available from the company,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://luvos.de/prodlist.asp?lid=1&sdid=0&did0=48&wptid=1&wpid=36&ptid=1|title=Es ist ein Fehler aufgetreten}}</ref> as well as cosmetics products.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.luvos.de/content.asp?lid=1&sdid=0&did0=73&wptid=1&wpid=99|title = Es ist ein Fehler aufgetreten}}</ref> The Luvos purified loess consists mainly of montmorillonite.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Kutsch | first1 = H. | last2 = Schoen | first2 = U. | title = A simplified HPTLC screening method for the estimation of the PAH content in soil samples | journal = Fresenius' Journal of Analytical Chemistry | volume = 367 | pages = 279–283 | year = 2000 | issue = 3 | doi = 10.1007/s002160000332| pmid = 11227459 | s2cid = 22234948 }}</ref>
==History== Luvos was established by alternative medicine practitioner Adolf Just in Blankenburg in 1918. Previously, Just had founded the ''Jungborn'' in 1895, a center for alternative healing, where he had extolled and popularized the healing properties of certain clays. The ''Jungborn'' was situated between Eckertal and Stapelburg in the Harz, an area which later became part of East Germany. Therefore, the Luvos company was relocated to Friedrichsdorf in the Taunus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.blankenburg.de/index.php?menuid=35&reporeid=76|title=Blankenburg: Startseite}}</ref><ref>[http://www.luvos.de/data/luvos/media/doc/zeitungsartikel-300dpi.pdf Newspaper clipping] luvos.de (in German)</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.luvos.de/content.asp?lid=1&sdid=0&did0=1&did1=15&did2=18&wptid=1&wpid=52|title = Es ist ein Fehler aufgetreten}}</ref>
The company is still family-owned today and run by Just's great-granddaughter Ariane Kaestner.<ref>Cosmia-Magazin 1/2010: ''[http://www.cosmia.de/201001/201001s06a.php Zu Gast bei Luvos: In Ur-Opas Fußstapfen]''</ref>
In 2017 the company was fined €40,000 for fraudulent advertisements. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://openjur.de/u/2383077.html | title=Urteil vom 02.12.2021 }}</ref>
==Products== thumb|left|Luvos medicinal clay (actually loess), fineness grade 1
During production, Luvos ''Heilerde'' is first dried, then sterilized at {{cvt|130|C|lk=in}}, and subsequently milled to achieve different fineness grades.<ref>{{cite web |title=Was ist Luvos Heilerde? {{!}} Luvos Heilerde |url=https://www.luvos.net/healing-earth/what-is-luvos-healing-earth/ |website=www.luvos.net}}</ref> The three coarsest grades of Luvos—"1" (fine), "2" (coarse; external use), and "ultra-fine" (for children and those having weakened constitutions)—have been in production since the time of Just. In August 2010, an even finer grade, "micro-fine", was introduced, which is supposed to bind excess cholesterol and bile acids.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.luvos.de/content.asp?font_flg=0&lid=1&did0=6&did1=37&did2=64&cid=0&wpid=135|title = Es ist ein Fehler aufgetreten}}</ref>
In 2004, 90% of company revenue came from Germany, the rest was made with exports, primarily to Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Scandinavia, and America.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} {{clear|left}} __NOTOC__
==See also== *Lebensreform
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{official website}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luvos}} Category:Health care companies established in 1918 Category:Companies based in Hesse Category:Medicinal clay Category:German companies established in 1918