Many companies tout the benefits of taking liquid vitamin supplements. Their biggest claim of benefit revolves around the supposed better absorption of these liquid vitamins over pills or capsules. So, should you consider taking liquid vitamins?

Well let’s investigate this claim that liquid vitamins are absorbed better than pills or capsules. The premise of this claim seems reasonable. If all of the vitamins and minerals are already in solution you would expect that they would be taken into the body much easier. There are a number of problems with this line of thinking. First, you DO NOT absorb vitamins and minerals through the stomach. This is an important thing to keep in mind because foods are mixed in your stomach before they are presented to your intestines for the absorption of nutrients.

Think about what happens when you take especially a vitamin capsule. You drink the capsule with water and the capsule quickly dissolves. Your stomach then churns the water and powdered contents of the capsule together and you get, that’s right, a liquid. So, what is the difference between taking a liquid or taking a capsule? Zippo, nothing, nada. Now the only caveat to this I will make is if you are taking hard as a rock cheap vitamins. Then, the vitamin might not dissolve in your stomach and absorption will be decreased.

Verdict: The claims made for taking liquid vitamins are good marketing and not much else.