whole food vitamins

Is it possible to crush vitamins/supplements pills into the food?

I was just wondering if I can do that instead of taking them whole? I want to get supplements into my system but I cannot stand taking pills/tablets. If i can just crush them into my food then I would take them regularly. What about the whole rate of dissolving issue and stuff? Thanks!

Yes you can crush them
Many liquid supplement manufacturers claim that because their product is in a liquid form that it is more bioavailable. In fact, some even use phony statements regarding the Physician's Desk Reference to support such claims. The statement they reference about liquid supplements being more bioavailable first appeared in the PDR under a listing for a specific nutritional supplement product. That statement has since been removed because it was false and could not be substantiated. In addition, the PDR organization itself does not make any such statement about liquid vitamins vs. tablets.
Nutrients are absorbed by the small intestine, unless they are taken sublingually or injected. When you ingest a supplement in either a liquid or tablet form, it must first go through the stomach and is then absorbed by the small intestine. If liquids were simply absorbed directly in to the bloodstream, as some supplement companies claim, would the same happen when you ate soup?

Bioavailability is defined as the degree and rate at which a substance (as a drug) is absorbed into a living system or is made available at the site of physiological activity. Different vitamins and minerals have different absorption rates no matter if they come from a tablet, liquid, powder, or food. For example Calcium has a pretty standard absorption rate around 25-35%. The form does not generally make a significant difference.

A well-made tablet provides a very effective delivery system and is the chosen form of most pharmaceutical medications. This is because tablets have been shown to be a very efficient delivery system for medications. Why would vitamin and mineral supplements be any different? Does anybody doubt that an aspirin tablet is less effective because it comes in a tablet?

Tableted products provide the advantage of an increased amount of active ingredient (almost 3 times as much as a capsule and much more than a liquid or spray). In general, the stability of tablets is also superior to liquids.

There are many factors that can affect the absorption of vitamins and minerals in the body. Some of these factors are a function of the person taking the nutrient and are dependent on the age of the person, the integrity of their digestive system, the state of their health, the time of day, the person's gender, and if the supplements was taken on a full or empty stomach. People whose nutrient needs are greater, such as growing children, pregnant or lactating women, and those who are currently deficient, may have significantly enhanced absorption rates for certain nutrients. Recently, some individuals and companies have made claims that their products are superior because they are "98-percent absorbed" or some similar number. This is a misleading statement because there are too many variables to imply that an individual's absorption is a certain percent of the material consumed. Even absorption of minerals from food sources can vary significantly. Boron, molybdenum, and iodine can be absorbed at over 90 percent while the average absorption rates of zinc, copper, and selenium can range from 30 to 80 percent depending on the form. It should seem reasonable then, that stating an average absorption rate is very misleading.

The USANA tablets are formulated to meet United States Pharmacopoeia standards requiring full disintegration within 30-45 min. They are also formulated to meet standards for dissolution. Because the USANA tablets are formulated to these standards, the vitamins and minerals found in our supplements are properly absorbed into the body and are very beneficial. Innovative formulations have been developed to optimize nutrient bioavailability. Each lot of USANA tablets is tested against finished product specifications to ensure that it meets standards for: identity, target weight, hardness, thickness, disintegration, potency, purity, and (microbial counts). USANA provides its vitamins and minerals in amounts and forms so that, in conjunction with a healthy diet, you will receive maximum bioavailability, full effectiveness, and uncompromised safety.

A couple of questions to ask:

The supplement industry itself originated on account of published studies in the scientific literature that contributed to the knowledge and insight into nutritional elements. With the hundreds of studies connecting calcium and vitamin D supplements with bone health, it is hard to dispute that tableted supplements provide an effective delivery system. If tablets weren't any good, why did the researchers get positive results? If liquid or spray supplements are so much better, why are they rarely, if ever, used in published scientific research?

Keep in mind that we are speaking of multiminerals and multivitamin formulations. There may be certain products that may be appropriate in a liquid (just as some medications are liquid). However, these are the exceptions, not the rule.

Finally, liquid supplement promoters often contend that liquids are better because they don't contain fillers (excipients used in tablets for disintegration, form, binding, coating, etc). That is a ridiculous argument since liquid supplements require even more "other" ingredients such as emulsifiers, solvents, preservatives, stabilizing agents, coloring, flavoring, etc. The more ingredients in a liquid supplement, the more excipients that may be required.

Eating Good Food With Vitamins

It is essential that a person is aware of what constitutes good food health vitamin intake. The federal drug administration produces a recommended daily allowance for the majority of vitamins which it regards as a good food health vitamin intake. These figures vary according to a person's age, sex and some other factors so that the good food health vitamin intake for a young woman is going to be different to that of a man in his seventies.

The food health vitamin intake amounts of certain foods are included in the nutritional labelling. This labelling is important for a person to consider and helps ensure that they are receiving the correct food health vitamin intake from the foods that they eat. The nutritional information is often represented as a percentage of the recommended daily allowance of each vitamin and mineral and can help assess the value of the foods in the quest for good food health vitamin intake.

There are also a number of items that a person may want to restrict in their diet as part of their good food health vitamin intake. Again, the nutritional labelling of certain foods can help a person to see how high a product is in these undesirable contents. Salt and fat, for example, may be items that a person wants to consider limiting as part of their good food health vitamin intake even though they are not strictly vitamins. The majority of people actually refer to nutrients when they use the word vitamin and food manufacturers are aware that a person is looking at minerals and other items when they are considering their good food health vitamin intake. Fiber is another element that many people are more aware of as forming an essential part of a balanced diet and is necessary for good food health vitamin intake.

If a person is on a restricted diet for any reason then they need to pay even more attention to their good food health vitamin intake. Obviously, some foods contain different nutrients to others and this is applicable to vitamins as well and it may be more difficult for a person to achieve their good food health vitamin intake if they are unable to eat certain foods. Vitamin supplements can form an essential part of a good food health vitamin intake for people who are unable to obtain their vitamins from their normal diet. It is also worth remembering that the good food health vitamin intake for a person varies throughout their life depending on their general health.

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