Are pills absorbed better than food?

Sarahloulalou

Couldn't quite decide how to word that thread title but what I mean is

Are iron tablets absorbed better into the body than getting your iron through food?
If I took a 14mg of iron tab would it absorb better than if I ate 14mg of iron throughout the day?
Same with VitaminC? And so on and so on......

Curious because I've just bought some multi vitamins and I've googled but couldn't find the answer I'm looking for

Any ideas?

bcattoes

As with iron from food, some is probably absorbed more easily than others. Iron from meat is more easily and fully absorbed than from vegetable sources. But I have read a couple of troubling studies on iron supplements. I would suggest not taking them unless directed to do so by your doctor.

Sarahloulalou

Thank you for your input

Crohns2013

I don't know which are easier to absorb, but iron supplements are really harsh on the stomach, and often cause constipation. I wouldn't take them if there is any other option.

stealthq

From http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09338.html

ETA - this site recommends getting iron from food.

"Iron

The most common iron supplement is ferrous sulfate, although other ferrous salts such as ferrous lactate, fumarate, glycine sulfate, glutamate and gluconate are also absorbed well. Ferrous succinate may have a 30 percent higher absorption rate than ferrous sulfate.

If you take iron tablets on an empty stomach, you get the best absorption but you also may experience constipation, diarrhea or stomach upset, depending on the dosage. Taking iron supplements with meals reduces iron absorption by up to one-third.

Vitamin C aids iron absorption whether the iron comes from food or a pill. Try meal combinations such as orange juice and iron-fortified cereal or salsa and bean burritos. Other good food sources of iron are meat, dried apricots, and iron-fortified bread. Keep supplements out of the reach of children. Eating iron-containing drugs is the most common cause of poisoning deaths in young children."

EDesq

Maybe 1% of ALL Vitamins are actually absorbed by the Body in Any form other than the Whole Food! Also, the Body makes its own needed Vitamins and Minerals WHEN we give it even a small amt of what it needs from WHOLE FOODS! Specifically, the Body Can NOT Absorb: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Calcium, Vitamin D... Unless in Whole Food and MOST Minerals that are on the Market are RIDICULOUS...Example: The Iron that is on the market is what pipes are made of, the ONLY way the Body can absorb that is if it is ground up and put in the soil and Plants absorb and Filter it to make it Iron Florine, THEN we can eat the Plant ad get the Iron!

The Supplement Industry is just a part of the Food and Pharmaceutical Industries... We have been HAD, Monsanto gets it share. NOW HERBS is a Different ball game, BUT know who you are getting them from and dosage and use...HERBS and Spices are POTENT Medicine!

bcattoes

Specifically, the Body Can NOT Absorb: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Calcium, Vitamin D... Unless in Whole Food

This seems a ridiculous statement. It's very hard to get enough vitmain D from food. Most people that do not spend enough time in the sun need some form of supplement, whether it's fortified foods or a vitamin pill.

Do you have anything to back up your statement?

neanderthin

Nutrients have a synergy that generally will be better absorbed if the original matrix is consumed. Basically nutrients in isolation have their shortcomings.

lisamarie1780

Couldn't quite decide how to word that thread title but what I mean is

Are iron tablets absorbed better into the body than getting your iron through food?
If I took a 14mg of iron tab would it absorb better than if I ate 14mg of iron throughout the day?
Same with VitaminC? And so on and so on......

Curious because I've just bought some multi vitamins and I've googled but couldn't find the answer I'm looking for

Any ideas?

I think where possible, you are best getting your nutrients from foods as opposed to tablets/supplements. However, iron deficiency is common and supplements are often needed. Iron tablets are very irritating to the stomach though and make a lot of people ill. If you can afford it I would suggest Spatone which is natural iron enriched water. Most health food shops sell it but you can also get it online at Ebay and Amazon. They are just sachets of flavourless iron enriched water which you add to fresh fruit juice and drink, it has no horrid side effects but does wonders for your Hb levels. You can have one or two a day depending on your requirements and they are best taken with food

PaleoPath4Lyfe

Couldn't quite decide how to word that thread title but what I mean is

Are iron tablets absorbed better into the body than getting your iron through food?
If I took a 14mg of iron tab would it absorb better than if I ate 14mg of iron throughout the day?
Same with VitaminC? And so on and so on......

Curious because I've just bought some multi vitamins and I've googled but couldn't find the answer I'm looking for

Any ideas?

No, I do not believe so. With just popping a pill - you will not absorb fat soluable vitamins if you don't have fat with them for instance.

I believe in getting nutrients from food, not pills.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

Specifically, the Body Can NOT Absorb: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Calcium, Vitamin D... Unless in Whole Food

This seems a ridiculous statement. It's very hard to get enough vitmain D from food. Most people that do not spend enough time in the sun need some form of supplement, whether it's fortified foods or a vitamin pill.

Do you have anything to back up your statement?

Vitamin D come from the sun, get out and let the sun hit your skin for 30 minutes a day and Vitamin D will be normal levels.

This is coming from someone that had such low vitamin D levels that I had heart palpitations, weak muscles, no energy, etc.

In order to raise it to a level that was considered normal, I had to go to the tanning bed everyday for nearly 2 months and then get a retest on my vitamin D levels.

Carnivor0us

Specifically, the Body Can NOT Absorb: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Calcium, Vitamin D... Unless in Whole Food

This seems a ridiculous statement. It's very hard to get enough vitmain D from food. Most people that do not spend enough time in the sun need some form of supplement, whether it's fortified foods or a vitamin pill.

Do you have anything to back up your statement?

Vitamin D come from the sun, get out and let the sun hit your skin for 30 minutes a day and Vitamin D will be normal levels.

This is coming from someone that had such low vitamin D levels that I had heart palpitations, weak muscles, no energy, etc.

In order to raise it to a level that was considered normal, I had to go to the tanning bed everyday for nearly 2 months and then get a retest on my vitamin D levels.

The problem with that is...where do you live? In tropical areas your advice would work perfectly. Insolation strikes the Earth at different angles at different latitudes (solar radiation would be in differing amounts), therefore a person in, say, Edmonton would either have to stay out in the sun longer (Than a person in Miami or Atlanta for example) or take a supplement or as you mentioned, hit a tanning booth.

EDesq

Specifically, the Body Can NOT Absorb: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Calcium, Vitamin D... Unless in Whole Food

This seems a ridiculous statement. It's very hard to get enough vitmain D from food. Most people that do not spend enough time in the sun need some form of supplement, whether it's fortified foods or a vitamin pill.

Do you have anything to back up your statement?

RESEARCH IS YOUR JOB! I DID My Research, I know what I know. The best source of Vitamin D is the Sun but do you really think that you can take supplements and be Healthy? Fortified foods are NOTHING, that means that all of those vitamins/minerals have been taken out of the food and they added some JUNK back. Have you seen the research on Vitamin C? Well they take it from its Whole Food source, usually in the form of Ascorbic Acid, the Body has NO use for it. See, NATURE does NOT separate elements out of its whole food source, they could be poison.

Hey, I am like Howard Cosell, I will Never talk down to anyone for Your benefit and Mine. Either accept what I say or take it as a Challenge and look it up. I make definitive statements, YOU disprove it, do some work, Good Health is NOT FREE, give a little effort.

mrslcoop

Is there a reason you’re taking vitamins/supplements? Is it because you think you need to or because your doctor recommended it? I only take what my doctor has recommended to me based on blood work and being a female of reproductive age (prenatals and all that). If you’ve not spoken to your doctor about this I wouldn’t take the vitamins.

Acg67

Maybe 1% of ALL Vitamins are actually absorbed by the Body in Any form other than the Whole Food! Also, the Body makes its own needed Vitamins and Minerals WHEN we give it even a small amt of what it needs from WHOLE FOODS! Specifically, the Body Can NOT Absorb: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Calcium, Vitamin D... Unless in Whole Food and MOST Minerals that are on the Market are RIDICULOUS...Example: The Iron that is on the market is what pipes are made of, the ONLY way the Body can absorb that is if it is ground up and put in the soil and Plants absorb and Filter it to make it Iron Florine, THEN we can eat the Plant ad get the Iron!

The Supplement Industry is just a part of the Food and Pharmaceutical Industries... We have been HAD, Monsanto gets it share. NOW HERBS is a Different ball game, BUT know who you are getting them from and dosage and use...HERBS and Spices are POTENT Medicine!

Natural and synthetic L-ascorbic acid are chemically identical and there are no known differences in their biological activities or bioavailabilities

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminC/

Dietary supplements
Supplements typically contain vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid, which has equivalent bioavailability to that of naturally occurring ascorbic acid in foods, such as orange juice and broccoli [13-15]. Other forms of vitamin C supplements include sodium ascorbate; calcium ascorbate; other mineral ascorbates; ascorbic acid with bioflavonoids; and combination products, such as Ester-C®, which contains calcium ascorbate, dehydroascorbate, calcium threonate, xylonate and lyxonate [16].

A few studies in humans have examined whether bioavailability differs among the various forms of vitamin C. In one study, Ester-C® and ascorbic acid produced the same vitamin C plasma concentrations, but Ester-C® produced significantly higher vitamin C concentrations in leukocytes 24 hours after ingestion [17]. Another study found no differences in plasma vitamin C levels or urinary excretion of vitamin C among three different vitamin C sources: ascorbic acid, Ester-C®, and ascorbic acid with bioflavonoids [16]. These findings, coupled with the relatively low cost of ascorbic acid, led the authors to conclude that simple ascorbic acid is the preferred source of supplemental vitamin C [16].

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/

bcattoes

Specifically, the Body Can NOT Absorb: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Calcium, Vitamin D... Unless in Whole Food

This seems a ridiculous statement. It's very hard to get enough vitmain D from food. Most people that do not spend enough time in the sun need some form of supplement, whether it's fortified foods or a vitamin pill.

Do you have anything to back up your statement?

RESEARCH IS YOUR JOB! I DID My Research, I know what I know. The best source of Vitamin D is the Sun but do you really think that you can take supplements and be Healthy? Fortified foods are NOTHING, that means that all of those vitamins/minerals have been taken out of the food and they added some JUNK back. Have you seen the research on Vitamin C? Well they take it from its Whole Food source, usually in the form of Ascorbic Acid, the Body has NO use for it. See, NATURE does NOT separate elements out of its whole food source, they could be poison.

Hey, I am like Howard Cosell, I will Never talk down to anyone for Your benefit and Mine. Either accept what I say or take it as a Challenge and look it up. I make definitive statements, YOU disprove it, do some work, Good Health is NOT FREE, give a little effort.

You are correct, research is my job. Or at least it's part of my job. What does my profession have to do with anything?

Foods are not necessarily fortified because anything has been stripped from them. Sometimes it's just a convenient way to provide nutrients that are missing the general public. Addind Iodine to salt, for example.

You think you know what you know, but you probably just believe it because you read it in a blog somewhere.

Yes, people can take supplements and be heatlhy. Proof being that there are healthy people taking them. No research needed.

The Howard Cosell comment is very odd. Not sure what to do with that.

scottaworley

Specifically, the Body Can NOT Absorb: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Calcium, Vitamin D... Unless in Whole Food

This seems a ridiculous statement. It's very hard to get enough vitmain D from food. Most people that do not spend enough time in the sun need some form of supplement, whether it's fortified foods or a vitamin pill.

Do you have anything to back up your statement?

RESEARCH IS YOUR JOB! I DID My Research, I know what I know. The best source of Vitamin D is the Sun but do you really think that you can take supplements and be Healthy? Fortified foods are NOTHING, that means that all of those vitamins/minerals have been taken out of the food and they added some JUNK back. Have you seen the research on Vitamin C? Well they take it from its Whole Food source, usually in the form of Ascorbic Acid, the Body has NO use for it. See, NATURE does NOT separate elements out of its whole food source, they could be poison.

Hey, I am like Howard Cosell, I will Never talk down to anyone for Your benefit and Mine. Either accept what I say or take it as a Challenge and look it up. I make definitive statements, YOU disprove it, do some work, Good Health is NOT FREE, give a little effort.

HAHAHAHA thanks for.. you know.. pointing people in the right direction.
Anyway, pretty much everything you said is incorrect. There have been numerous studies showing that vitamins from supplements are absorbed just as easily as vitamins from whole foods. I also can attest to this because I don't have violent diarrhea after I take my supplements.
I would link some studies, but it would be more fun to make you look it up.

chadraeder3

Specifically, the Body Can NOT Absorb: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Calcium, Vitamin D... Unless in Whole Food

This seems a ridiculous statement. It's very hard to get enough vitmain D from food. Most people that do not spend enough time in the sun need some form of supplement, whether it's fortified foods or a vitamin pill.

Do you have anything to back up your statement?

RESEARCH IS YOUR JOB! I DID My Research, I know what I know. The best source of Vitamin D is the Sun but do you really think that you can take supplements and be Healthy? Fortified foods are NOTHING, that means that all of those vitamins/minerals have been taken out of the food and they added some JUNK back. Have you seen the research on Vitamin C? Well they take it from its Whole Food source, usually in the form of Ascorbic Acid, the Body has NO use for it. See, NATURE does NOT separate elements out of its whole food source, they could be poison.

Hey, I am like Howard Cosell, I will Never talk down to anyone for Your benefit and Mine. Either accept what I say or take it as a Challenge and look it up. I make definitive statements, YOU disprove it, do some work, Good Health is NOT FREE, give a little effort.

Wow my Bull S**T detector just went off since you cannot reference any source.

heathermeysenburg

I donate blood when I'm able and used to have issues with low iron even though I was taking a regular daily multi-vitamin. They suggested I avoid taking my vitamin at breakfast like I was because supposedly the calcium in the milk or yogurt I was consuming can inhibit iron absorption in the body....I started taking the vitamin at other times of the day when I wasn't eating those things and have no issues now. They also told me that Vitamin C can aid the body with iron absorption, so to take it with OJ, or other juice that is high in Vitamin C (which I do not do).
I agree with the other poster about not taking iron pills unless it's been recommended by your doctor.

taunto

tagging an interesting topic and hopefully somebody who knows his/her stuff can answer with a simple answer.

scottaworley

In honesty, if vitamins and minerals weren't absorbed your pee wouldn't change colors. Someone smarter than me will have to answer whether they are utilized effectively.