# Best Form for Vitamin Suppliments? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-form-for-vitamin-suppliments/267700 "2004-10-05T18:48:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-form-for-vitamin-suppliments/267700/1 "2004-10-05T18:48:22Z")
Does it matter what form of vitamin suppliment you take as far as absorption into the body? Usually, hard vitamins are the easiest to find, but I’ve read that they abosorb about the same as swallowing a rock (i.e. none). Liquid caps seem like they’d absorb better. For a while, I took vitamin suppliment that I dropped in water and it bubbled for a while like Alka Seltzer (and then Longs stopped carrying them). Also, there’s gummy vitamins… for kids I guess, but I would assume that they would disolve faster than the solid block of vitamins. Which one is best?? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-form-for-vitamin-suppliments/267700/2 "2004-10-05T18:50:35Z")
In a fruit or vegetable :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-form-for-vitamin-suppliments/267700/3 "2004-10-05T19:30:11Z")
You know, I was wondering how long it would take to get the smart alec answer and you beat my best expectations! :rolleyes: However, if you note, I did ask about vitamin _suppliments_, not just vitamins. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-form-for-vitamin-suppliments/267700/4 "2004-10-05T20:31:32Z")
All brand name vitamin and mineral supplements today dissolve in the stomach within 45 minutes. (Or are supposed to.) This is not mandated by law (except for calcium tablets) but is a voluntary industry response to U.S. Pharmacopeia standards. The problems you mention in the OP are years old and should have gone away. Since it takes food a good hour to move through the stomach anyway, tablet supplements are going through the system just as fast as food does, so you’re losing nothing. Just choose a brand you’re comfortable with, that has all the supplements you want and at the lowest cost per dose. Store brands should work just as well as name brands. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-form-for-vitamin-suppliments/267700/5 "2004-10-05T21:02:21Z")
I’ve heard the poor absobtion theory also. Can this be partially overcome if one were to break up the pill before swallowing? Since hearing about this I have been in the habit of chomping up the pill in my mouth a few times before swallowing with water. Think that helps? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-form-for-vitamin-suppliments/267700/6 "2004-10-05T21:23:14Z")
If the pill is designed properly in the first place, which they are, it makes no difference at all.