When one hears the word vitamin, what is the first picture that comes to mind? Many would think of the little tablets that come in several colors, shapes, and sizes, but vitamins have been manufactured to even take on other kinds of forms as well, such as liquids in plastic capsules. It might be hard to believe that the vitamin-making industry is actually less than a century old.
Before modern food production, nutrients and minerals could only be obtained by consuming food. As a result, this meant that diseases related to vitamin deficiencies were more common in the past. Nowadays, people can receive the nutrients they need without having to eat so many different things.
How Are Vitamins Made?
How are vitamins made, exactly? They are crafted to the letter through recipes and formulas that are often closely guarded secrets by pharmaceuticals. However, there are also many who try to create their own, usually with organic ingredients. The vitamins put into dietary supplements can be extracted through natural sources or synthetically made through laboratories.
An example of this is Vitamin A, which derives from fish liver oil. It is easy to search online nowadays which food items have the strongest concentration of vitamins. However, what is surprising is that these are also used to create the supplement forms as well.
Other Ingredients in Vitamins
Vitamins include other ingredients as well so they are easier to mass-produce. This also allows them to be absorbed in the body easier. Vitamins can also be mixed with other minerals that the body needs such as calcium or zinc. The capsules that hold these supplements are generally cellulose-based. The capsule is made to help break down the vitamins once they are ingested. Sometimes herbs are added to the vitamins. However, this depends on whether or not they are meant to be the main component of the vitamin tablet or are an additional aspect.
Steps Involved in Making Vitamins
Creating vitamins generally involves the following steps. Preliminary checks of ingredients, pre-blending, wet granulation, weighing and mixing, encapsulating, polishing and inspection, tableting, coating, and finally packaging. Each step is followed meticulously with quality control in mind.
Factories, depending on the size, can produce as many as 50 million capsules a day. One can only imagine how many capsules are being created around the world every second. Not to mention, how many of those are being ingested by people every day.
Despite it being a very successful industry, information about how vitamins work and how they are made is not as common knowledge as it should be. How long does it take for a vitamin to take into effect? How much are we supposed to be taking? These are among many questions that readers such as yourselves should ask. Vitamins are the future, but it is a future that we should know more about in order for it to work in our favor.
Additional Reading: Learn about Vitamins and Nutrients
What can Fortress Nutrition LLC do for you?
Rest assured that you’re in good hands with Fortress Nutrition. To learn more about how we tailor our blending, ingredient sourcing, logistics, consumer packaging, and other services to meet customer needs, and to find out how we can partner with you to ensure compliance with new GMO laws, contact us today.