Absorbing supplements

[Deleted User]

Good morning!

For medical reasons I started to take Glucosomine & Calcuim tablets three times a day.

However I am finding the tablets very large and they are not being digested. I am regularly finding whole tablets in the toilet bowl.

Is it ok to crush them up and take them with food? I had to get my boyfriend to do this for me last night in order for me to take them in the morning, but I am concerned that being crushed and oxygen getting to them overnight, makes the
properties less effective?

Please advise, I have so many of the tablets now, I have to find a way to absorb them.

Many thanks.

Ted_Hutchinson

You may find that one of the liquid forms of Glucosamine such as JOINT GENIE is more effective.
It is more expensive Zipvit's for example is £9.95 for 360 ml or you can buy 2 and get one free for £19.90 which works out at £6.63 monthly or 22p daily. However this is absorbed into the body much quicker so may be better for you.

I understand that some manufacturers use a binding agent to retain the tablet ingredients together which doesn't break down in the body. So you may find another type of tablet wouldn't have this problem. However I suspect that calcium may be better absorbed with other food. I also think that planning your diet to include more World's Healthiest Foods Natural calcium food sourceswould also improve matters.

An official view of the practice of crushing prescribed medicines is given here from [size=-1]The Pharmaceutical Journal[/size]
Tablet crushing is a widespread practice but it is not safe and may not be legal
I can see that for time release versions of vitamins that crushing them would almost certainly defeat this objective.

However for something like calcium which may not be absorbed easily in tablet form I would have assumed that crushing the tablet would be more likely to aid digestion than other wise.

In order to be certain about this I have spoken with Zipvit today and they have confirmed that their tablet forms of Glucosamine and Calcium can be crushed and left overnight and consumed the following morning without any loss of quality.

Edit: Perhaps I should also have said that if this applies to Zipvit's Calcium or Glucosamine tablets it probably applies to these supplements from other suppliers. But I'm sure most of the reputable suppliers would be willing to confirm the situation for their tablets.