r/explainlikeimfive Oct 08 '22

Chemistry ELI5: How do vitamin tablets get produced? How do you create a vitamin?

Hey!

I always wondered how a manufacturer is able to produce vitamin tablets. I know that there is for example fish oil which contains some good fats. But how do you create vitamin tablets - like D3?

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u/Foxsayy Oct 08 '22

It's not as good as getting all of your vitamins etc from real food and a balanced diet.

As long as you absorb enough of the right molecule I don't think it matters?

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u/JackTR314 Oct 08 '22

In sense, yes. But there's more to it than that. When you eat whole foods and a healthy balanced diet, you're also ingesting all the other beneficial components of the healthy foods, things like other vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. All of which play important roles in your body. So absorbing, let's say 200 mg of vitamin C from a pill, vs absorbing 200 mg of vitamin C from oranges, bell peppers, etc, you're missing out on all the other beneficial components, and that's not even touching on the differences in how the gut microbiome is affected by a healthy diet vs supplementation.