THE CASE FOR LIQUID VITAMINS

Once you have made a choice, in my case, to look for organic vitamins derived from natural foods, you are still faced with the question of the type of vitamin. And here, the case for liquid vitamins is strong. The ease of absorption offers many advantages. All forms are valuable, pills, gels, powdered greens, but organic liquids vitamins are available faster than other forms. There are times when faster is better...when you are sick...after heavy physical exertion.

Particularly if you do not have a regimen of daily supplementation, but use supplements only occasionally, based on how you are feeling, whether or not you have a cold and so forth. Liquid vitamins can be marshaled into the small intestines that much quicker, and into your bloodstream in a very short period of time..

When you are sick, your body is already spending a large amount of energy to fight off a cold, the flu, or the virus of the day. The food you eat will take 3 to 4 hours to have nutrients available. Liquid vitamins can be absorbed, and pass into the bloodstream in less than half an hour. For that reason alone, its worth it to have them in the home. Even if you are only using them on an emergency basis. Lots of people have supplements in the home and they only think about them when they are sick. Then its tons of vitamin C for the duration of the cold and then back to "normal". Since the point is to make it easier on the body, go the extra step and get the vitamins in liquid form, let your body spend its energy breaking down real food instead of pills.

There are many products that are also easy on the tongue. There are a variety of fruit based drinks that are much the same as beverages. There are concentrates that only require a couple tablespoons to get the nutrition you need, and they can be added to other foods or drinks. Add them to yogurt, smoothies, top off an ice cream sundae.

Others, like amino acid concentrates have a flavor similar to soy sauce. They add flavor to rice, or a salad. The first time I encountered liquid amino acids I was visiting friends of mine who are very knowledgeable about organic foods and their preparation. I looked forward to visiting them because I knew there would always be something very tasty on the menu. On their dinner table you find the regulars like salt and pepper. But also there was a bottle filled with something that looked like soy sauce. They would use it in a similar fashion. Add a bit to rice, potatoes, carrots, sprinkle it on salad. I had never seen it before so I asked what it was.

They told me that it contained amino acids and that it had a nice taste. I personally like the taste of salt on vegetables and rice and in my salads. I don't usually use soy sauce because it has a blend of flavors that don't "hit the spot" for me. But this product they were using was absolutely perfect. It became my salt substitute of choice. I didn't skip a beat, and didn't miss the salt at all. Many of these products are much like seasonings that you are already comfortable with. If no one told you, you probably wouldn't even know they were in your food.

To be honest I don't think that liquid organic vitamins are the only way to go. I think the most important thing is to try to find and use products that are derived from real foods, mostly plants. And having a caplet, or pill form, which dissolves more slowly is much the same as eating, it will be bio-available in a "time released" fashion.

However, in some products,there are materials which are primarily incorporated in pills that are there only to make the production of the pill "easier" on the manufacturing equipment. This seems to be the role of things like silica, magnesium stearate (which is also a natural component in fat) and some powdered sand. I don't know that these are detrimental they are in all the synthetically produced vitamin pills, and many companies that use food derived vitamins also include them. Its difficult to find products without them. But there is some controversy about their usage. They are less likely to be found in liquid supplements.

One of the issues with these additives is that a person who is taking many pills on a daily basis will end up compounding the concentration of them. You aren't just talking about one pill a day. Many seniors, for example, take five or ten pills a day. Some of these things are prescription medications as well as supplements. But you could end up with a significant amount of silica when you are taking higher numbers of pills than the average person does. To me its a battle that doesn't have to be fought, organic liquid vitamins just simplify the issue.