In these times when maintaining your health is crucial, banking on immune-boosting vitamin C and zinc formula is a no-brainer. Sometimes though, looks can be deceiving. Even if a supplement contains vitamin C and zinc, it may not have enough, or may not be formulated properly to help you reach your daily nutritional quota.
With that said, it’s OK to be choosy with the supplements that you take. Learn more about the common problems often seen in the formulation and production of supplements, along with what to choose the next time you’re on the hunt for one.
Why Vitamin C and Gel Capsules Won’t Work Together
Vitamin C is quite difficult to handle since it’s unstable when exposed to moisture, heat, and light. As it degrades, it also discolors and releases carbon dioxide gasses. This instability makes it difficult to contain vitamin C in gelatin capsules.
Gel capsules are high in moisture which can negatively affect vitamin C in it. Moreover, vitamin C also contains a carbonyl group that reacts with alpha-amino groups of the gelatin protein, causing discoloration and reduced abilities.
Vitamin C’s Instability Is Also Seen in Chewable Tabs
Chewable tablets offer convenience for people uncomfortable with swallowing supplements. However, research points out that chewable vitamin C and zinc supplements failed key performance indicators.
In a study conducted by the Research & Development Division of Unilab, the tablets were way too hard to the point that it may have caused extensive damage to teeth or dentures. The tablets weren’t fully disintegrated in the baseline time of 60 minutes, and offered little to no stability as they were uncoated and more exposed to moisture, air, and light.
According to the same study, a chewable vitamin C and zinc tablet placed in accelerated storage conditions for three days released so much carbon dioxide. This caused warping and bloating, wherein the supplement’s package expanded, deforming and heavily damaging the supplement’s package. The supplements also showed discoloration and damage as it popped inside the package.
Watch Out for These Red Flags in Effervescent Formulas
Vitamin C and zinc are also difficult to combine in one formula since they have poor compression properties. In the hopes of making it more stable, manufacturers attempt to add certain ingredients. However, these methods may not be the ideal solution for this problem:
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Addition of fat-soluble vitamins or compressible B vitamins: These may lead to an excessive input of actives that may cause undesirable effects.
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Addition of compressible excipients: Apart from being an expensive process that yields a pricey product, adding compressible excipients may cause the supplement to have high levels of sodium and phenylalanine. These may lead to various side effects. Moreover, supplements of this nature aren’t convenient because they’ll need to be dissolved first before being taken.
Choose a Supplement That Passes USP Standards
In its efforts to help protect patients’ safety and improve their overall health, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) has established standards on the quality, strength, identity, and purity of chemical medicines, biologics, food chemicals, and ingredients.
One quality to watch out for when doing your research on supplements would be dissolution. This is a process wherein a certain formula breaks down into a simpler substance. It aims to measure the amount of active ingredients released from a particular dosage over a period of time under standardized conditions.
A dissolution test helps determine the potential bioavailability of nutrients that can be absorbed by your body and provide nutrients. So many supplement formulations have been tested for their dissolution properties but yielded disappointing results.
Here’s Why Sodium Ascorbate Zinc (ImmunPro®) Is a Game-Changer
All hope is not lost though, as there’s a supplement that is able to combine vitamin C and zinc in a very convenient, stable, and easy-to-take swallow formula.
Sodium Ascorbate Zinc (ImmunPro®) is the first and currently only Vitamin C + Zinc non-effervescent tablet in the country. It constantly passes USP dissolution tests, ensuring that you’re getting vitamin C and zinc as fast as possible.
Moreover, Sodium Ascorbate Zinc (ImmunPro®) is specially formulated with patented ZincPlus® Tablet Technology. The supplement has a CROS Core that guarantees better tablet compressibility, faster tablet disintegration, dissolution, and absorption, and a stronger product that’s ready for film coating. This particular coating then helps ensure vitamin C stability by reducing exposure to light.
Even better, it doesn’t discolor or bloat, has low amounts of sodium compared to other brands, and is packed in single-serve flex foil that provides ultimate stability.
Sodium Ascorbate Zinc (ImmunPro®) is best taken once a day or as prescribed by a doctor, complemented with a healthy diet and exercise. To know more about the other positives linked to Sodium Ascorbate Zinc (ImmunPro®), visit this website for additional info.
References:
https://www.nps.org.au/australian-prescriber/articles/pharmaceutical-excipients-where-do-we-begin
Internal Documents of Unilab Research & Development Group
