Hi there,
beware of the marketing spin concerning
liquid vitamin products.
Manufacturers of many liquid vitamin
supplements have been making some hefty
claims in that their products have
extremely high levels of bioavailability
(absorption) – much higher than that of
tablets.
In some cases they’re claiming
bioavailability rates of almost 100% (e.G.
Seasilver)!
Many of the companies selling liquid multi
vitamins are multi level marketing
companies – they rely more on hype and
spin than good science to sell their
products.
They take advantage of the fact that
supplement consumers do not understand the
principles behind the bioavailability of
nutrients and so they structure their
marketing presentations to make it appear
that the bioavailability and efficacy of
their product is much higher than it
really is.
A major problem we need to think about is
that a number of the most important key
ingredients used in supplements (tablet or
liquid) are susceptible to destruction by
stomach acids.
Because of this there are many scientists
that believe only about 10 - 15% of the
active ingredients make it into the blood
stream. (this is considered an
approximate industry average by many
scientists).
The only supplement delivery system that
overcomes this problem is called enteric
coating (applied to hard tablet
supplements). This harmless aqueous
coating protects the ingredients as they
pass through the stomach until they reach
the upper intestine where absorption takes
place. Enteric coating has been used to
protect key ingredients in pharmaceutical
drugs for many years and is a main factor
as to why drugs work so well.
Since liquid nutritional supplements have
no delivery system how on earth do they
claim near 100% absorption?
Their nutrients are susceptible to
destruction by stomach acid just the same
as non-enteric coated tablets. If however
they do not contain any of these key
ingredients then that's ok. (vitamins and
minerals are not effected - but a highly
efficacious and nutritionally complete
multi ingredient supplement will contain
far more than just vitamins and
minerals).
'liquid life complete' which you asked
about describes itself as a complete
nutritional product - but the formula is
very simple. Most of the key ingredients
are missing . And it contains iron which
it should not! Iron is an oxidant –
too much iron oxidizes ldl cholesterol
which makes it more toxic and more likely
to end up in the arteries. Only people
diagnosed with a deficiency should
supplement with iron.
Liquid life costs only $20 because it is
primarily made up of vitamins and minerals
- the cheapest ingredients in supplements.
800 mg of vitamin c is too much (in doses
of 400mg up, vitamin c acts as a proxidant
- the opposite of antioxidant!) the dose
amounts of the herbals and amino acids are
really small - these are key ingredients
and the health benefits from such small
doses are questionable. Thats why it
costs only $20.
Manufacturers of liquid nutritional
supplements also usually make a big fuss
that their products contain enzymes
(liquid life doesn't). Don’t buy the
hype with those that do!! The enzyme
component is negligible because they are
not added, but are naturally occurring
within the food matrix used in liquid
multi vitamins. There are only trace
amounts – nowhere near enough to be of
benefit.
Enzymes cannot be added into to liquid
nutritional supplements due to their
sensitivity. They can only survive in a
liquid form for approximately a few hours.
To get maximum absorption (estimated at
around 80%) you need a supplement in
tablet form that is enteric coated.
I believe the leading liquid vitamin
supplements are very pricey for what they
offer- they don't give you good value for
money (and check the labels for any
artificial sweeteners to mask the bitter
taste of vitamins - and for any
preservatives). 'liquid life complete' is
sweetened with crystalline fructose - this
is ok (comes from cornstarch).
You may like to take a look at the
enteric coated supplement I use- it costs
about the same as the leading liquid
supplements (and has 83 ingredients). You
can see it evaluated and reviewed against
the leading supplements in the industry
(including lifepak which dave mentioned
above in this thread)
if you're interested please copy and paste
this url into your browser window.
Http://www.Nutriti
onal-supplement-truths.Com/
and look for my page about bioavailabilty
(absorption) of supplements - it gives the
names of all the ingredients damaged by
stomach acid.
Hope this helps
cheers
:d
brett
(nutritional-supplement-truths.Com)