The major of adults in Taiwan take one or more dietary supplements either every day or occasionally. Today’s dietary supplements include vitamins, minerals, fish oil, probiotics, glucosamine and many other products. Take a deep look at your daily supplements, you would find out they come in different forms and sizes. Your ACTIVFOLATE is in a capsule format, which is much smaller than the height of the NTD one coin. Although your MCH ELITE capsule is also in the form of capsules, it’s about the height of the NTD five coin. Meanwhile, the BABE D3 for your baby is designed to be in liquid form.

These forms and sizes are determined by a number of factors, although each one has a similar goal: to help you absorb the optimal dose of nutrients from the fewest number of supplements to achieve health goal, and without any side effects.

1. The Form –

Not only do supplements come in various sizes, they also come in different shapes, colors, and forms:tablets, capsules, powders, gummies, as well as drinks and energy bars. Among these formats, tablets and capsules are the most popular ones.

However, tablet format requires high pressure to help with molding. The pressure and temperature at the time of making could potentially damage the activity of the sensitive components. Moreover, the tablet form has to be coated with a film coat to increase moisture resistance; the composition of the coating contains a lot of chemical additives, including titanium dioxide and talcum powder. All of which have pointed out potential risks and harms. Some cheaper tablet products also used to add artificial colors on the coating, which burden our body in a big way.

Capsules generally refer to capsules made from special film-forming materials (such as gelatin, cellulose, polysaccharides, and pure natural plant starch, etc.), which is used to enclose ingredients in a relatively stable shell, allowing them to be taken orally. The two main types of capsules are hard-shelled capsules and soft-shelled capsules. The hard-shelled capsules contain dry, powdered ingredients whereas the soft-shelled capsules primarily used for oils and for active ingredients that are dissolved or suspended in oil. The ingredients placed in the soft capsule are more restricted. In addition, the material of the capsule shell can also be made of plant material. The plant-based capsule shell is very commonly used in products for vegetarians. Generally speaking, the cost of the plant-based shell is higher than that of the animal-derived gelatin shell.

Capsules are considered to be the best form for the highest quality dietary supplements. They have several advantages over other formats:

▪  Within the capsule capacity range, the various components are used in a relatively large degree of freedom and can be mixed in various ratios.
▪  Protect sensitive raw materials. Have the ability of being effective oxygen barrier and excellent chemical stability, which could improve product stability.
▪  Capsules are smoother, which makes them easier to swallow, especially for Asian female.
▪  Capsules are often tasteless and odorless.
▪  A capsule breaks down faster than a tablet, for a quicker release time in the body once you consumed.
▪  Capsules are gentle on your stomach.
▪  For someone who have difficulty to swallow capsules, a capsule can be pulled apart and mixed its powder into a beverage.
▪  Capsules, unlike tablets, do not require binders, coatings, and other agents to produce them.
▪  Capsules can deliver oil or fat soluble nutrients.

Aim at the multiple advantages of capsules, realpromise’s products chose the capsule format purposely. We also emphasize on using plant-based capsules, because it has better taste due to plant-derived ingredients and natural ingredients compared to animal-derived gelatin capsules. The plant-based capsule shell is stable at low humidity levels, have low moisture content, and low static charge, and is more suitable for oxygen-sensitive and immediate-release drugs. These characteristics make the contents safer, better dissolution, and more remarkable impact on the users.

2. The Size –

Some people may find it troublesome to take various kinds or multiple dose of dietary supplements. Although you can take one large, highly concentrated tablet/capsule of vitamins and minerals one time a day, but this is not ideal. Think in this way; when it comes to food, you don’t eat your recommended daily amounts of fruits, vegetables, meat, and protein all in one meal, right? The same concept goes to supplements. Your body needs nutrients throughout the day, not in one massive quantity first thing in the morning.

This means taking more capsules throughout the day, but it is much better for absorption overall. So yes, realpromise could choose as much vitamins and minerals into a smaller as we want, more compact tablet/capsule – but then we have to use the unnecessary binders and other manufacturing agents that might decrease nutrient absorption and nutrient breakdown in the body. Besides, it goes against our rules and original intention.

In some case of minerals, form matters – even though it might need for a larger capsule. When you are taking an iron, magnesium, or another mineral supplement, the mineral’s chemical structure also plays an important factor. Minerals come in many different forms in the market, and often the structure that is most absorbable, and efficient by the body is less concentrated, which can result in a bigger capsule size. For example, magnesium oxide is much more concentrated than magnesium glycinate (a form of magnesium used in realpromise’s products). Magnesium oxide is slightly more than 60% magnesium, whereas magnesium glycinate is only 11% magnesium. Therefore, you can get more magnesium from magnesium oxide than from magnesium glycinate into the same size capsule. But magnesium oxide is poorly absorbed in the body, which means that while you would be taking smaller capsules, you would be absorbing only a smaller part of magnesium from its oxide form, thus affect the results. Magnesium bisglycinate has much better absorption rate than Magnesium Oxide, about 5 to 8 times. But magnesium bisglycinate is about 11% of magnesium, so using it in capsule form might require more capsules than the magnesium oxide.

At realpromise; we try to make a balance between absorption and concentration. The efficacy of our products and how much they could benefit your health are what we care most. The balance between absorption, concentration and capsule size is taking into account for every product realpromise makes. For example, FERROPRO (Iron bisglycinate) capsule is smaller than the height of the NTD one coin, you can easily take one micro-capsule with highly adsorption iron. Take one to two capsules easily with adequate amounts of iron according to your need, with no side effects. Furthermore, in the case of iron, the more poorly absorbed it is, the more likely it is to cause the side effects – constipation, bloating, and other symptoms of GI upset.

Therefore, next time when you begin to take your supplement every day and you see those different forms and sizes, please remember that each realpromise’s product is thoughtfully designed to provide your body with the best absorbable forms of the nutrients, along with the minimal side effects and moderate swallow size. That is the difference between realpromise and other brands. realpromise always think best for your health, we try to stand on the perspective of the consumer, and provide the best nutritional supplements.