I recently went for my yearly checkup with my gastroenterologist...had several surgeries years ago for divertic.
Anyway, had dropped off a stool sample a few weeks earlier as part of the routine tests he does. In his office after reviewing the usual stuff he asked me how many vitamins do I take daily. And I told him and asked why? He smiled and said the stool sample had several intact, that had never dissolved at all. He said he sees this over and over with patients. Tablets are very hard for the tract to break down fully and of course are then not absorbed and doing you no good at all. Not to mention the serious waste of money, vitamins are pricey.

I asked him what is the best alternative and he suggested buying your vitamins in capsule, not tablet. Capsules are the clear plastic with power inside which are easier for the system to deal with. Since I take individual vitamins, (C,D,E,etc.) these are easy to find. But you can't find a multi in this form, at least not that I could find.

So if you are taking vitamins tablets, especially those big horse pill type, chances are you are not digesting these.
Please consider the capsule form and take them individually.
Best wishes....jerzygal :nono:

That is very interesting, thanks for the info. I also take some of those 'horse pill' vitamins. I like the softgels best and get them whenever possible.

I once read in a woman's magazine that if you take your tablet, whatever kind it is, and drop it into a cup of white vinegar, stirring every 5 minutes or so, if it is not dissolved at the end of 30 minutes, it won't dissolve in your stomach acid. So I do this with anything I take.

Hi,
Yes I had been routinely using the method with dissolving the pill in vinegar/water solution, so you can imagine my surprise when the doc told me this. He said that is not a reliable method because your stomach acids are in a state of flux continously. So when you dissolve the pill in the solution which is always the same measurement, the result is predictable...i.e. if the pill dissolved the first time, it will always dissolve in the solution.

But our digestive tract isn't consistent. It might dissolve one day after you swallow it and not the next day.

I think the other reply using softgels is another option along with the capsules.
Donegal27

My preference is for powdered vitamins & minerals, which are very economical. Many are palatable enough to be stirred into a glass of juice. I also like liquid & sublingual liquid vitamins, in addition to softgels. I try to avoid hard tabs as much as possible.