Test tells how fast vitamins dissolve

By Richard Harkness McClatchy Newspapers - 02/27/2007

Q: I’ve heard that vitamins in tablet form do not digest properly. They say if you put them in a glass of water or vinegar, and they don’t dissolve in 30 minutes, they are digesting in our intestines, which means we are not getting any value from the vitamins. I work in the holistic health department at a natural food store. My manager says this is not a fair test. Can you provide any information on this?

A:A brief anatomy lesson is helpful. The first stop for things you swallow is the stomach, which serves as a reservoir that allows digestion (food breakdown) to take place gradually. Stomach contents empty into the duodenum, which empties into the longer tract of the small intestine, made up of the jejunum and ileum.

It is during the trek through the small intestine that most digested foods and dissolved pills are absorbed into the body.

I think the primary issue you’re concerned with is how well vitamin tablets disintegrate (break apart) and dissolve. This is, indeed, critical. Tablets that fail to dissolve properly may not release their contents into the small intestine in time for absorption to occur.

Tablet or caplet forms are more likely to have disintegration problems than capsules and chewable tablets.

In an official laboratory disintegration test, a pill is continuously agitated in an acidic solution (mimicking the stomach) for up to 45 minutes.

During this time, it should fall apart.

ConsumerLab.com, a company that tests dietary supplements, won’t approve products that fail this test.

Do-it-yourselfers might wish to try the following unofficial home test provided by ConsumerLab.com. As the company points out, it isn’t foolproof, but it does yield helpful information.