Whether you’re entirely new to the world of soluble multivitamins or you’re a wellness veteran, it’s important to know the details about the ingredients in your multivitamin and how they work within your body. There are countless benefits of multivitamins. They fill common nutritional gaps in your diet, bolster your immune system, and even provide you with a natural boost of energy when you need it. Knowing the different types of vitamins contained within your multivitamin, what they do, and how they react with your body can help you understand how to absorb vitamins better and start making the most of your multivitamin.

There are two distinct types of vitamins utilized in most multivitamin products: water-soluble vitamins and fat-soluble vitamins. The difference between water-soluble vitamins vs fat-soluble vitamins lies in the way your body stores them. When you take your multivitamin alongside your normal diet, there may be extra amounts of vitamins leftover that your body has yet to fully absorb. The leftover fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the body’s cells, usually in the liver or fat tissues (1). For this reason, it is important to ensure you do not take fat soluble vitamins in excessive amounts, as they can gradually pile up in your body over time. The main fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins A, D, E, and K (2).

Water-soluble vitamins, on the other hand, are not stored within the body’s cells. Leftover amounts of water soluble vitamins pass out of the body easily in urine, meaning that they do not accumulate in the liver or fat tissues. So which vitamins are water-soluble? Vitamin C and all eight B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, B6, biotin, folic acid, and B12) make up the nine water-soluble vitamins. Both types of vitamins are equally essential to your body, but in this article, we will be focusing on water-soluble vitamins and some of their benefits.

Water Soluble Vitamins

Since water-soluble vitamins are not stored inside the body’s reserves, you should try to have them readily available in your diet, whether in the form of vitamin-rich foods or a multivitamin that contains them. Each of the nine vitamins in the water-soluble vitamins chart fulfills its own unique purpose in your body and has specific benefits when consumed regularly. Let’s run through a quick overview of two of the most common water-soluble vitamins.

When you think of immune health, one of the first supplements you think of is likely the water-soluble vitamin C, with its widely known ability to fight back against the common cold. As an immune support, vitamin C is a key micronutrient for the human body, providing support to cells in both subsets of the immune system (3). On top of its immune boosting abilities, vitamin C is also a strong antioxidant, vital to your body’s formation of blood vessels, cartilage, muscle and collagen. It is often found in citrus fruits as well as berries, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and spinach (4). For anyone who has an allergy to foods rich in vitamin C, multivitamins or vitamin C supplements are another way to ensure your body receives enough of this essential micronutrient.

All eight of the B complex vitamins are important to your body’s health in their own unique ways. However, one of the most talked about B complex vitamins in recent years is vitamin B12 or cobalamin. Vitamin B12 has innumerable benefits to systems all over the body, from the brain to the bloodstream. It assists in the creation of red blood cells, an essential function that prevents the development of blood diseases like anemia. A brain booster as well, B12 improves cognitive function by heightening your mood and reducing common symptoms of depression (5). But its feel-good ability doesn’t stop there, as this powerful micronutrient often gives energy boosts that can be used in place of an afternoon cup of coffee. Just like vitamin C, it’s often consumed in the form of vitamin-rich foods such as meats, eggs, seafood, and dairy, or in the form of a multivitamin supplement (6).

Water Soluble Minerals

When talking about the ingredients of multivitamins, two categories that are often stuck together are vitamins and minerals. Despite both forms of micronutrients being equally essential to the body, they are very different from each other in terms of their origins and composition. Vitamins are organic, meaning they originate from plants and animals. Minerals, on the other hand, are inorganic and originate instead from rocks, water, and other non-living objects (7). The characteristic that brings these two categories together is the way our body receives these key nutrients. Both vitamins and minerals must be consumed through your diet, the vitamins as natural products of plants or animals and the minerals passing along indirectly from the environment those plants or animals lived in.

So, since they’re quite different from vitamins, are minerals water-soluble or fat-soluble? Or are they simply their own option? The answer is a little bit tricky, as minerals are not sorted according to the same system as vitamins, but for the most part, the minerals that the average person needs to consume in their diet are in the form of water-soluble salts (8). However, water-solubility does not mean the same thing for water-soluble vitamins and minerals. Water-soluble minerals simply dissolve in water. Since most minerals are absorbed via the small intestine, their solubility does not affect how or where they are stored within the body. In fact, despite being technically labelled as water-soluble, minerals are more likely to behave like fat-soluble vitamins in that consuming them in highly excessive qualities can lead to health risks (9).

Multivitamin Absorption

When selecting your supplement, it’s important to consider the multivitamin absorption rate for different types of supplements in addition to their ingredients. The main types of multivitamins are tablets, gummies, powders, and liquids. The rate of multivitamin absorption varies across each type, with liquid multivitamins proving to be both the quickest and the most efficient. With the added step of breaking down a barrier or container before your body receives the micronutrients, the absorption rate of gummy vitamins and tablets is far slower than that of liquid multivitamins which bypass this step entirely (10). Already present in their liquid forms, the nutrients of a liquid multivitamin absorb directly, eliminating the risk of losing some of the essential vitamins and minerals to the race against the clock.

If you’ve experienced vitamin absorption issues in the past, liquid multivitamins provide an excellent alternative to traditional pills. Not only do they cut down on overall vitamin absorption time, but they’re also much easier to stomach for both picky eaters and those who experience dysphagia or difficulty swallowing. Liquid multivitamins are designed to fit into your hectic schedule and can be easily added into a favorite juice or smoothie. For the best absorption results, try taking your multivitamin in the morning with breakfast, as the water-soluble B vitamins it contains will give you a boost of energy and perhaps even kickstart your brain for the day ahead (11).

Best Water Soluble Multivitamins

The best water-soluble multivitamins are going to be multivitamins that contain all types of micronutrients outside of just the water-soluble varieties. They should include the essential water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C and the B complex vitamins as well as the four types of fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K. Keep in mind that water-soluble vitamins are not produced in the body and pass through it without being stored, so you need to make sure you consume enough of them on a daily basis. Replenishing your body’s stores of vitamin C and the B complex vitamins ensures they can continue to carry out their important functions in the immune system, the bloodstream, the brain, and many other places in the body.

Along with both types of vitamins, the best multivitamin will also provide your body with essential major and trace minerals like zinc, iron, calcium, potassium, chloride, chromium, sodium, and selenium. Zinc, iron, and calcium deficiencies are particularly frequent, so if you feel that your diet is not giving you enough of these vital minerals, adding a multivitamin is an excellent way to ensure your body receives everything it needs without the added stress of tweaking your diet, avoiding allergic reactions, or simply being forced to eat foods you don’t like. In fact, multivitamins have special functionality for picky eaters who can receive their nutrients in an all-in-one formula instead of spread across various foods.

Every multivitamin claims to be the best one, administering the largest amount of nutrition to your body without exceeding upper daily limits. But what you may not know about supplements is that the vitamins they contain come in a variety of formats, ranging from ineffective to highly effective. Our carefully crafted Liquid Daily Multivitamin utilizes only the highest quality vitamin and mineral formats throughout its formulation in order to deliver nutrition to your body in the most effective way possible. With 16 essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamins A, D, E, K, B complex vitamins, iodine, selenium, chromium, and silicon dioxide, this advanced formula fills the common gaps in your diet with no fluff or filler. Our additional blend of organic fruits provides a much needed boost of antioxidants as well as a uniquely vibrant reddish color that makes this multivitamin fun and safe for the whole family to enjoy.

References

1. Solan, Matthew. “The Best Foods for Vitamins and Minerals.” Harvard Health Publishing, 17 August 2021, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-best-foods-for-vitamins-and-minerals.
2. Healthwise Staff. “Choosing a Vitamin and Mineral Supplement.” University of Michigan Health, 17 December 2020, https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/ud3713.
3. Carr, Anitra C. and Silvia Maggini. “Vitamin C and Immune Function.” National Library of Medicine, 3 November 2017, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29099763/.
4. Mayo Clinic Staff. “Vitamin C.” MayoClinic, 17 November 2020, https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-c/art-20363932.
5. Berkheiser, Kaitlyn. “9 Health Benefits of Vitamin B12, Based on Science.” healthline, 14 June 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-b12-benefits.
6. Kubala, Jillian. “B-Complex Vitamins: Benefits, Side Effects and Dosage.” healthline, 7 June 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-b-complex.
7. Gavin, Mary L. “Vitamins and Minerals.” TeensHealth, January 2021, https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/vitamins-minerals.html.
8. Casiday, Rachel & Regina Frey. “Nutrients and Solubility.” Washington University, January 2001, http://www.chemistry.wustl.edu/~edudev/LabTutorials/Vitamins/vitamins.html.
9. ​​Bowen, Richard. “Absorption of Minerals and Metals.” Colorado State University, http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/smallgut/absorb_minerals.html.
10. Giampapa, Vincent. “The Pro’s and Con’s of Liquid Vitamins for Adults.” healthycell, 21 June 2021, https://www.healthycell.com/blogs/articles/liquid-multivitamins-for-adults.
11. Brissette, Christy. “Morning or night? With food or without? Answers to your questions about taking supplements.” Washington Post, 5 February 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/morning-or-night-with-food-or-without-answers-to-your-questions-about-taking-supplements/2019/02/04/5fcec02a-2577-11e9-81fd-b7b05d5bed90_story.