Supplement question: spray or pill?

For all you folks who have access to clinical studies: are there any 3rd party studies of the efficacy of one over the other?

Once again I've tested low for B12 and D and I really do need to start supplements, but pills make me nauseas. Truthfully, I know some of it has to do with my mother forcefeeding me shovelfuls of them in my childhood, but I do still have stomach problems with vitamin pills.

The only info I can find through an internet search has a lot of marketing spin. Do you get better absorption with one delivery system over the other? The whole area of supplements drives me batty because it is so difficult to find reliable info.

Thanks for your hep!

Let me look around, but you are very right in that finding the kind of information you are looking for is difficult. The manufacturers are not required to do studies to prove safety and efficacy and that are then independently reviewed. So what I have found is that I'll see them claim that clinical studies showed X, but what I find is just their propoganda, not the information in a peer reviewed journal.

There are things that I know have been shown to have the same kinetics when given intransally as given orally, so that isn't out of the question. But whether that holds true for B12 and D, I don't know. But I'll search around and see what I can find.

Of course one option is for you to be your own study with an N of 1. :) Try the nasal spray and then get retested and see if you are still deficient. If not, then for you, this works.

OK - just found a couple reports of sustained blood levels of B12 with intranasal administration. The study was done to compare intramuscular administration, which is what you would do for pernicious anemia, with intranasal.

Not finding the same for Vitamin D though, in fact one abstract that isn't letting me get to the whole article even though I think it should, is saying it is best taken orally.

But your instinct that perhaps the information you seek is not out there, is probably right. I will keep looking though. Did you ask the dr that diagnosed you as deficient? Though they probably won't have the answer either.

Thank you so very much!

Yeah, the doctor didn't have any recommendations either but that's the norm with doctors.


PS - The OTC sprays I've found are oral sprays, not nasal, but I haven't done a huge amount of research. A friend mentioned Dr. Mercola, but, well, there you go with possible credibility problems.

Editing - just looked up intranasal sprays. By Rx only??? Still awaiting the results of methylmalonic acid and homocysteine tests so sticking with OTC for now. Hmm, I wonder if my previous doc ran these tests 4 yrs ago? Must go check.

ah, I missed that. Then it really becomes a formulation issue and one that only the companies can probably answer but since they don't have to do so, those data are likely not out there. Then I go back to being your own personal study. :)

I can understand the pill taking issue. My sister has cancer and at one point was very sick from the meds and got to where if she saw a pill, she ran to the toilet. I finally recommended mashing them up in apple sauce. I also got her a powerful anti-nausea med called in that eventually got her back on track. But it was so hard to watch her get sick literally just by looking at a pill. Pavlov's dog indeed. :)

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Originally Posted by Possegal

Then I go back to being your own personal study. :)

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Oh, goody.:)

My mother would have me take the vitamins immediately in the morning. It took me years to figure out why I would nearly pass out in the shower about 20 mins later. I thought it was the heat until I went off to college and changed my habits. But Pavlov's Dog had been trained too well!

Vit B does not burp well . . . .

I get sick to stomach too if vitamins/supplements are 1st thing down the hatch.

I eat/drink yogurt first then take my daily dose... no more problems.

spazz

I had a renal failure cat who I gave fluids too and they included B complex in the bag. IT STUNK BEYOND BELIEF! She died in the summer of '06, and I can still smell that crap on things in my house. Because of course it would leak out a bit, or she'd play me for the fool and bolt with the needle in her and then it would spray around the room. OY! smelly smelly smelly.

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Originally Posted by spazzdog

I get sick to stomach too if vitamins/supplements are 1st thing down the hatch.

I eat/drink yogurt first then take my daily dose... no more problems.

spazz

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Yeah . . . unless your psychosomatic response is still too strong.

Another option for ingestion is chewable tablets.

NOW Foods, a popular brand that you should be able to find at any natural food store, has a chewable B-12. That's the only one I found that isn't combined with folic acid.

I didn't find chewable vitamin D alone from any major manufacturer, but it's out there from some smaller companies, and also chewable calcium supplements often include vitamins D and K.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

NOW Foods, a popular brand that you should be able to find at any natural food store, has a chewable B-12. That's the only one I found that isn't combined with folic acid.

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Huh, that initially sounds nasty considering the normal smell of a B supplement but I did read it. Maybe I can manage that . . . Chef Bubba can give it to me as my breakfast fruit serving.:p

This brings to mind that some vitamins and minerals need to be in the presence of certain other ones to be readily absorbed.

Dang this is complicated. Figuring out custom gearing is a whole lot easier -- and sometimes cheaper!

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Originally Posted by SadieKate

considering the normal smell of a B supplement

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I'm pretty sure the smell is from the B-2. B-12 should be odorless IIRC.

But it's beyond me how people like the taste of Red Bull and the like... with that very strong vitamin pill flavor. I guess with enough vodka, when you're 17, anything tastes great. :rolleyes:

Thanks. Just thinking about burping Vit B was making me a little green.

If you are low in B12 because of pernicious anemia then injectable B12 is the best way to go. There are also sublingual B12 supplements. They dissolve under your tongue rather than moving through your digestive system. They have a mildly sweet taste and not a strong vitamen smell or taste.

I have been doing the injections for almost 12 years

Getting the vitamins is the important part. So, whatever works for you is the way I'd go.

My GP prescribed B12 shots for low B12 after the sublingual pills didn't cut it (though they really aren't that bad--sweetish like ridenread said). I took the pills and my levels just never got up to normal. The shot's not that bad, and I give it to myself.

I'm also low in Vitamin D (per a specialist's tests), so I take 2000 IU Vitamin D a day. I take the D in 2 separate doses with breakfast and dinner. Definitely take it (and any other pill vitamins) with food. If I don't eat with it, I'll get a little green.

Vitamin B12: I take sublingual B12 from "Source Naturals." It doesn't have folic acid in it, has no real flavor other than mild sweetness, and is methylcobalamin rather than cyanocobalamin. (which I seem to absorb better and kicks my neuropathy out faster) If I'm in a hurry I chew them up, hoping my messed up gut will absorb the B12 as well as my mouth tissues would have. http://www.sourcenaturals.com/products/GP1217/ I pay $8 for 60 of the 16,670%DV pills.

Vitamin D: I get 3,000 IU daily of vitamin D-3 from "21st Century Healthcare". They have no flavor (chalky and bland) and are quite soft, so chewing them is no problem. They are awkward to swallow because they are not slippery, so I'd rather chew them. Add a bit of juice or fruit in your mouth and they are even easier. Mmmm, fruit leather and vitamin D.... tasty! http://www.21stcenturyvitamins.com/p...=418&c=2&sc=10 I pay $4 for 110 of the 1,000 IU pills.

I'm not sure that a spray B12 would be of greater benefit than a sublingual B12. With sublingual you might be bathing the mouth tissues in B12 a bit longer. (the Source Naturals takes FOREVER to dissolve) Though, since you don't have celiac disease your absorption pattern might be different.

If you are willing to chew B12 and D, the stuff I'm taking might be more acceptable than the ones you try to swallow whole. Maybe cheaper than sprays, too.

Oh, and I was told to take my B12 with some calcium to help absorption.

Thanks, all! I wasn't ignoring you, but I was waiting for my doc to return with the results of the additional tests. Fortunately, nothing else showed up. I'm just on the low side of norm for B12 and D.

Interesting info here though some of it made my eyes roll back . . . :p
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12

Knott, I'll look into your links. Thanks for providing. Chewables would probably be easier to "swallow" given my anathema to vitamins. A friend sent me a bottle of Dr. Mercola's B-12 Spray so I may be doing that self study thing also.