benefit of TASTING vitamins before swallowing?

A BRILLIANT friend of mine takes all his vitamins in powder form and swooshes them around his mouth before swallowing (other than the gel ones like fish oil and vit.E)

He said there was a study that showed when people are fed through their stomachs (as in the case of someone who swallows drano...bad way to attempt suicide IMO) they eventually die of malnutrition. However, when these same people have food PLACED in their mouths, and then the food is removed from their mouths, they live when feed that same food through their stomachs because the brain sends chemical signals to the body about how to process what is coming down the shoot.

For this reason he says swallowing pills is the wrong way to go. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

I'm sure there is some truth to this because certain enzymes are released when chewing like amylase for instance. The body I'm sure is triggered in other ways to aid digestion and utilization. I know that isn't very scientific at all, but as long as you take your supplements with food you don't have anything to worry about.

Also...things are absorbed sublingually to a certain extent as well. So powders may be given a 'boost' if your buddy is swishing them around in his mouth.

Last night I tried it. I emptied my pills onto a large spoon and swished the powder around in my mouth before swallowing it with about 5 large sips of sweet tea. I didn't breath through my nose as I did it so it really didn't have any taste (kind of bitter), but when I eventually did breath through my nose, the residue was not really THAT nasty.

If you guys think there may be real benefit of doing this then it may be worth it, but it really would be a pain in the butt (and taking so many pills is ALREADY a pain in the butt enough!)

I empty the contents of all gel caps into my protein drink in the morning. Never considered the added benefit of what you are referring to here. My method does make it very easy to take a handful of supplements.

Paradox, I think my friend is implying that taking supplements with food is not ideal because your brain will not 'recognize' the supplements unless your mouth has tasted them. So eating food would not solve this problem.

I read that the reason artificial sweeteners are bad is because your brain is sent info from your mouth that sugar is coming down the pike, so it produces insulin to digest it. When no sugar appears in your body, the insulin floats around with nothing to digest, so it just digests your blood sugar which makes you hungry. That's why diet drinks cause people to gain weight. This fits perfectly with my friends theory.

I would love for others to chime in with their thoughts. CS?

hi,

Yes, I believe taste has a lot to do with how the body responses to the incoming food.

I am willing to bet that if you consume anything very awful, for ex. something that is very sour like vinegar, your body will suppress its normal functions or at least decrease them. This can be shown by the decreased blood sugar spikes. This is not only in regards to vinegar, I just used it as an example.

For me, this makes perfect sense in terms of our survival in nature. Typically, things that taste bad in nature are not healthy for the body so we discern them through our sense of taste. But what of the parts already consumed(besides vomiting)? Surely if wouldn't make much sense for the body to digest it as any regular source of nutrition. This is when I believe when a suppression(or a decrease) of bodily functions occurs which first starts at out initial tasting. Which functions? I don't know but I do know blood sugar is immediately controlled.

This was something I thought of when trying to figure out how exactly vinegar decreased one's blood sugar when taken before each meal.

Today a pharmacist told me that the coating of the supplements (tablets or caps) in most of cases are bad and there is a big possibility, because of this, content to be rejected by the body...so nutrient not absorbed.
What do you guys think about it? Is it better to empty the capsules into the mouth without coating?

Flintstones vitamins
I wouldnt dream of taking shit like that now, but remember taking them as a kid.

so, what's your opinion about the above post?
I guess we all take supplements, and it's pity to waste them without absorption...

A reason for people dying of malnutrition when fed through the stomach could be because there are digestive precursors and enzymes in the saliva. Direct stomach tube feeding bypasses the food being mixed with saliva. It also makes sense that the act of chewing and actively salivating stimulates the whole digestive tract to kick into gear. I too, think that taking the appropriate supplements with food will assure optimal assimilation. Breaking open your pills and swishing them around in your mouth every day is also counter-productive, as far as compliance is concerned. It's very doubtful anyone will notice a physical difference from swishing around a bunch of shit in their mouths. So, basically everyone who tries this will likely give it up after a month max. An unnecessary added stressor to a hair loss regimen IMO.

trueground, what about if we empty the capsule directly into the mouth and swallow the powder with water?

thickhairRULES wrote:He said there was a study that showed when people are fed through their stomachs they eventually die of malnutrition. However, when these same people have food PLACED in their mouths, and then the food is removed from their mouths, they live when feed that same food through their stomachs

Great, so how people who are in a coma survive then? The taste food?