Vitamin absorption

Frenchgrad
Frenchgrad Posts: 30 Member
edited December 3 in Food and Nutrition
Hello everyone! I have some questions I'm hoping you can help me with. I met with my personal trainer for our usual appointment this morning. As we were going through the sets, he asked me if I take any supplements. I replied that I take a multivitamin in the morning in tablet form. He said that it would be better to take a capsule because the tablets are compressed and bound together, and the body doesn't absorb the vitamins & minerals as well. He also recommended taking one in the morning and at night to help with recovery.

I'd never heard this before, so I wanted to ask if anyone's heard this before and if what he's saying is accurate. Any thoughts? Thanks for the insight!

Replies

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    Thoughts?

    Unless he has a special certification in nutrition he shouldn't be giving this kind of advice. For exactly this reason.


    OP, you don't even need a multivitamin if you're eating a nutritionally complete diet. Don't worry about it.
  • DataSeven
    DataSeven Posts: 245 Member
    I take iron in capsule form because it's easier on the stomach. I'm not sure about a full multivitamin but with iron supplements it's good to take it on an empty stomach with orange juice to help absorption.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I swear people with physical education training should stay away from nutrition woo.

    Never heard of this and I dread googling it. So I found a partial answer in Snopes.

    http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=78650
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
    I don't take parenting advice from people who have never done it, lifting advice from registered dieticians, or nutrition advice from personal trainers.

    I take a multivitamin and extra of a couple of minerals and B vitamins because I have celiac disease, which definitely affects the absorption of micronutrients. I have never had anyone tell me capsule vs pill matters. Including my pharmacist, who would know.
  • kingrat2014
    kingrat2014 Posts: 51 Member
    The way I selected capsule form was, I started with 3 glasses of water. In one I put the tablet form, in the 2nd capsule form and the 3rd I opened the capsule. I waited till the capsule dissolved, stirred the 3 glasses of water and observed. Then waited for the tablet to finish dissolving then observed which one I would take. The winner was the capsule I could take apart and take it in water, in a smoothie, and in other ways.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    Tablet forms of vitamins and drugs usually contain only a small amount of the active ingredient(s) the rest being made up of chemically inert excipients.

    The compression and choice of excipients are designed to release the active ingredient within a desired time frame. So, a typical oral painkiller will have exciepients (and possibly a tablet coating) which ensures that the active ingredients are delivered quickly whereas an epilepsy medicine may have exipients which slowly degrade to release the active ingredient over a longer period of time.

    Testing during the development phase will determine the correct exipient types and ratios for the desired effect and routine testing of production batches will ensure consistency from batch to batch.

    23 years working in drug development and formulation tells me that your trainer is talking out of his hat.
  • nadler64
    nadler64 Posts: 124 Member
    StealthHealth wrote: »
    23 years working in drug development and formulation tells me that your trainer is talking out of his hat.

    Not quite the location I would have picked, but we'll go with it.
  • Unknown
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  • Strawblackcat
    Strawblackcat Posts: 944 Member
    All vitamins have to pass a test that requires them to dissolve within a certain period of time. So, your body isn't necessarily breaking down capsules better than tablets, unless you buy a sustained release supplement or something.
  • Return2Fit
    Return2Fit Posts: 226 Member
    The times I got advice on supplement absorption usually proceeded a sales pitch from a guy selling supplements...
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    edited August 2016
    Always fact check bro-science. (like you did) There is a UL or upper limit for some vitamins and you would probably get close to that if you took 2 multivitamins.

    UL = the highest level of daily nutrient intake that is likely to pose no risk of adverse health effects to almost all individuals in the general population.
  • Frenchgrad
    Frenchgrad Posts: 30 Member
    Wow, thank you for all the helpful replies! I had a feeling it sounded fishy. I did some googling myself and found similar replies to what you all wrote. And like Return2Fit said, right after he said I should take capsules and 2/day, he mentioned that the gym is having a big sale on a 3 month supply of their brand of multivitamin capsules.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    Frenchgrad wrote: »
    Wow, thank you for all the helpful replies! I had a feeling it sounded fishy. I did some googling myself and found similar replies to what you all wrote. And like Return2Fit said, right after he said I should take capsules and 2/day, he mentioned that the gym is having a big sale on a 3 month supply of their brand of multivitamin capsules.

    If it were me, I would be asking myself whether I really want to go on paying someone for (PT) advice related to my health who has proved that he is willing to give bogus (nutritional) advice related to my health, whether it is out of ignorance or self-interest -- i.e., he wants to get his commission or meet a quota from selling vitamins. Even if he's doing it out of ignorance, clearly he is unable to recognize where his knowledge ends and his ignorance begins.
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