Perhaps there's a placebo effect in play, but I don't see anything near the results that I'm looking for when I use a capsule than I do when I access the same vitamin through food. For example, if I feel a cold or a sore throat coming on, I can nearly always stave it off by eating a bunch of oranges or grapefruit, as well as drinking orange juice or grapefruit juice, but taking Vitamin C capsules doesn't seem to have any effect at all.
Exactly, @John Brunner. Food has a lot of cofactors that may not exist in the capsules/tablets, but taking supplements can help fill the holes of major nutrients. Eat a healthy diet if you can. Vitamin D needs cofactors, but a deficiency of D can cause problems in itself.
I was recently talking to a friend who reminisced of his childhood cod liver oil regime. "That spoon looked like a shovel." I used to try to take supplements along with foods that contained the nutrient. I picked up some cranberry extract tablets, and will take them with cranberry juice. For some reason I think it helps to better assimilate the nutrients.
I wish they would invent a capsule you could take so you wouldn't have to eat at all. Optional, of course. That's what I thought this thread was about from the title. Maybe it could expand to provide some roughage, like this foam window insulation in cans. Think of all the saved time.
Yeh,when I read the title, The Jetsons came to mind. All of those Popular Science articles I read in the 60s that said we were gonna be getting our nutrients in tablets have not come to fruition. Regarding foam insulation...I guess it would warm your tummy
Food is always the best place to get our nutrients but sometimes, we just don't have time or don't want to fix what is good for us. Also, I think I read someplace that as we get older, our bodies can't absorb some vitamins as easily from food anymore so taking supplements can help. Plus, I just don't think our food is as nutritious as it use to be with all the chemicals and crap that they use. I take supplements but I research the brands and make sure they come in the form of capsules, gel, or liquid so my body can absorb it better. Taking supplements might be all BS, but sometimes mind over matter can be a powerful tool.
I think certain chemical reactions change the molecular chemistry during processing. Some minerals won't change as much though.
I often wonder about the accuracy of published nutritional content of specific fruits & veggies relative to today's growing conditions. More specifically, I don't trust it. But I still believe there's gotta be some nutrients in order for the plant to grow in the first place...there are most likely trace minerals missing. Regarding the form of the supplements (tablets, gel caps, etc)...I first got into supplements in the early 1990s. If I recall my reading correctly, there was (is?) controversy as to how readily absorbed the tablets are. I believe the FDA used (uses?) a process where the tablets were ground between two discs before testing their content, which is nothing like what happens in our digestive tract. That being said, I mostly buy tablets because I think they retain their potency (such as it may be) longest. And most scripts come in tablet form. edit to add: My current regime involves boosting my multivitamin with vitamin & mineral supplements so I'm at the high end of the USRDA for just about everything that has a published RDA. Then I augment with other stuff (NAC, Choline, NALT, etc.) Then I eat properly.
Plus the fact that some plants have been modified so much they aren't even what they use to be, and GMOs, oh my!
I am told USP places tablets in water at 37 C. (body temperature) and the tablet must dissolve in 60 minutes to be certified. I cannot attest to that, as it is second-hand info but it seems reasonable, although 60 minutes seems long. The principle supplements that do not break down are calcium carbonate. Those tablets often pass right through with little or no breakdown. You are correct on the value of food, as our soils have been greatly depleted of trace minerals, as farmers fertilize for what the PLANTS need for growth, not for what the animals need to get from the food. Insufficient research has been done on human trace mineral needs, as the drug companies can't make money from it, but a good deal of work has been done in animal supplements, so you can get good relevant info from that quarter.
So true and I use to belong to a site 'Organic Gardening' that explained it all well. Of course, I forgot much of it.
I have tried the tablet test in a glass of water some years ago. I did a couple of different brands but I can't recall which brands they were. The tablets did not dissolve after the amount of time. They barely broke now. When I removed the tablet from the water, I squeezed the tablet and it was still hard. That is why I use the soft gel tablets or capsules.
That may change. I read an article a couple of months ago that Dick Durbin is on another anti-supplement crusade. I guess he already burned through his Congress-stimulant [Pfizer] checks.