Liquid Nutritional Supplements

While nutritional supplements are required by law to be taken by mouth, there are still different forms of supplements. The most well-known is the vitamin pill, which is a small concentrated tablet from about 50-200mg. Other nutritional supplements take the form of liquids and powders, which have their respective merits over pills.

Why Not Pills?

While pills are a quick and easy way to down your dietary supplements, they are the harder to break down than other forms. Your body must digest the protective coat around the good stuff inside, and then separate the vitamins from the inert ingredients that make up the rest of the pill. This is better than going without your vitamins, but there are better ways to get them.

In a liquid form, your body can instantly start absorbing vitamins and distributing them to your body. Liquids contain fewer inert ingredients than pills, since the solution is predominantly water. One shortcoming of liquid nutritional supplements is exactly that they are mostly water--so you end up paying for a lot of water. On top of that, liquid supplements take more packaging, and also take up a lot more shelf (or refrigerator) space.

Powdered forms of nutritional supplements strike a balance between these two. By mixing a powdered supplement into a drink, you are getting all the easy absorption of liquid supplements. On top of that, powdered supplements mix about a tablespoon of powder into a glass of water--so you can keep a jar of powder just about anywhere. Powders don't need to be refrigerated, and are easily transported if you're going on vacation.