All vitamin supplements are not created equal
While getting all your essential nutrients from natural foods is ideal, it may not be practical in today’s society and many people turn to vitamin pills to supplement their diets. Make no mistake about it though, vitamin supplements are big business and not all manufacturers have your best interests in mind.
There are thousands of supplements to choose from and consumers spend billions of dollars each year; many never get even a small fraction of their money’s worth.
How to choose a vitamin supplement that does not go down the toilet?
There are 3 types of vitamin supplement delivery systems. Capsules, liquid and tablets. The trick is to choose one that dissolves properly and doesn’t just “pass”, thus wasting your hard-earned money.
Liquid would be best, but unfortunately there aren’t many options on the market. Plus, they can be inconvenient and taste like cough syrup. But they’re great if you can’t swallow pills and they’re good for kids, too.
Tablets are the most common form of vitamin supplement. They are made by mixing them with an organic or inorganic cement and pressing them into shape. For the tablets to dissolve properly an organic cement must be used but this costs more and as you can imagine many manufacturers skimp on this stel. There are also coated tablets that look like little candy-coated M&Ms. These are very commonly found in cheap daily pharmacy vitamins.
Capsules are gelatin containers that dissolve quickly and in most cases are the best option. Because they are not compressed like tablets, you will usually have to take two of them to make it equal to one tablet.
One important thing with vitamin supplements is that you want to make sure you absorb as much as possible, otherwise you’re just wasting your money. Studies have shown that individual vitamin isolates found in supplements are only about 10% absorbed, while vitamins directly from a fresh plant source are 77-93% absorbed. Minerals have an even lower absorption rate: 1% to 5%. But from plants like raw broccoli, the minerals are 63-78% absorbable.
The reason for this difference in absorption is that, in nature, each vitamin and mineral molecule is bound to a protein molecule. That’s why you should take your vitamin supplements with meals, unless otherwise stated on the label. During digestion, only about 10% of the vitamin and mineral molecules, with the help of enzymes, will bind to protein molecules found in food, allowing them to be absorbed and used by cells. Without these accompanying proteins, the body will see the isolated vitamins as a foreign substance and will filter them out. That’s why you may have noticed bright yellow urine after taking a vitamin — that’s your body’s way of getting rid of chemicals it thinks it can’t use.
When selecting a vitamin supplement, make sure it has adequate amounts of the vitamins and minerals you want. Remember that only about 10% of what is in the supplement will be absorbed. Look for the BP (British Pharmacopoeia) or USP (United States Pharmacopeia) designation on the label. You will find the initials USP or BP next to the vitamin and this designation means that the vitamin isolates are of the highest quality and dissolve easily in the digestion process.
When looking at the mineral section of the label, look for “chelated” or “chelated.” This indicates that the minerals are bound to the protein before being added to the supplement. This increases absorption by between 400% and 800%.
Look for a supplement with a “food base.” This is concentrated plant material to which vitamins and minerals are added. Food-based supplements will contain enzymes and nutrients that enhance the absorption of vitamins and minerals. This is probably the best type of vitamin you can buy, but the tablets will be larger and you may need to take more.
Nutritional supplements can never replace food and should not be used as crutches to supplement a poor diet. The best prescription for health is to eat a nutritious and healthy diet that can be supplemented when necessary.