Gel caps

I just opened my D3 from Vitacost and they are a dry powder in a gel capsule. Can we absorb this or did I just waste my money?

Most capsules are made of gelatin.  The same stuff Jello is made of.  And like Jello, they dissolve easily in a warm wet place like your pouch and small intestine.  You'll absorb it well.  You want a dry powder, not oily stuff, since we malabsorb fats and oil is a fat.

Thanks, Kelly. It is a dry powder in the gel cap. It went down fine. Thanks so much for the quick reply!!

Yeah it's fine if the stuff inside the capsule is dry powder. I take 50,000 iu D3 once a week from Bio-Tech, and it's a gel capsule but inside the D3 is powder, no oil inside.

I was talking to my pharmacist several years ago (when she commented on how much weight I had lost and she had some questions about RNY), and one of the things she told me was that if you can easily squeeze a capsule (with dry material in it, not to be confused with the squishy soft ones with oil in them), it is primarily gelatin.  If it strongly resists being squeezed, it likely has a special coating so that it either only breaks down in a certain part of the intestine or is a time-release medication.

Just an easy way to keep your mind at ease about whether or not you can absorb a medication or vitamin.

BTW, the gel capsules with oil in them will still beak down in our digestive system.  The problem isn;t that they don't break down, it's that we don't absorb the oil that is in them very well.

 

Lora