[eggplant]

So, I had just dropped my parents off at the Phoenix airport and decided to stop in at Whole Foods in Tempe before heading back down to Tucson. I'm always looking for a good vegan multi-vitamin that won't put me in debt, so I asked a guy in the supplement aisle if they had one. He didn't know, so he asked another girl who worked there. She said no and started to explain to me that they didn't carry a vegan multi because some nutrients were not absorbable without gelatin. WHAT!? I politely challenged this statement by telling her that there are vegan multis on the market and that there are other non-vegan multi-vitamins that don't contain gelatin. I told her that I thought gelatin was only used as an agent to give the pill or capsule form and had no effect on the nutritional value of the multi. She insisted that there was some nutrient that she couldn't remember that needed gelatin to be absorbed. This is absurd, right? I didn't press the point since I'm certainly no supplement expert, but if she was as wrong as I think she was, it's pretty annoying that she's so sure of her misinformation and is working in the supplement section, no?

 

[Gothic Sponge]

Smells like BS.

 

[CharityAJO]

They weren't lying.<br><br><br><br>
Granted there are a myriad of multis out there that don't use a gelatin capsule...<br><br><br><br>
But some nutrients, like vitamin D, tend to be absorbed better inside some gelatin. Or at least, the companies that make them think so, so they keep selling them as such.

 

[TheUndyingMonk]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>CharityAJO</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
They weren't lying.<br><br><br><br>
Granted there are a myriad of multis out there that don't use a gelatin capsule...<br><br><br><br>
But some nutrients, like vitamin D, tend to be absorbed better inside some gelatin. Or at least, the companies that make them think so, so they keep selling them as such.</div>
</div>
<br><br><br>
so then without gelatin there would still be some absorbtion it would just not be quite as effective?

 

[CountessKerouac]

I don't think they would just not carry a vegan multi simply because of 1 or 2 inabsorpable nutrients. I've gotten vegan vitamins AT WholeFoods. Did you eventually find them?

 

[CharityAJO]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>TheUndyingMonk</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
so then without gelatin there would still be some absorbtion it would just not be quite as effective?</div>
</div>
<br>
Correct.

 

[CharityAJO]

You might also check out this thread, for next time you head to the store: <a href="http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=15397" target="_blank">http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/s...ad.php?t=15397</a>

 

[beforewisdom]

If you asked a supermarket clerk a question about the history of English literature and she said something lame would you be surprised or upset?<br><br><br><br>
There is a reason she is working as a supermarket clerk and not as a nutritionist or a professor of literature.<br><br><br><br>
After over 26 years of being a vegetarian( with never one test showing any kind of nutritional deficiency ) the only people I take seriously, without investigating what they have to say as far as nutrition advice goes are veg*n dietitians.<br><br><br><br>
Not medical doctors who have no training in nutrition and who can be foolish as lay people, not omni dietitians many of which stop learning once they are out of a school that gave them an outdated education, not someone who read an article somewhere, and definitely not web mavens without any professional credentials.<br><br><br><br>
The clerk was full of it.<br><br><br><br>
Use this link well<br><br><a href="http://www.veganhealth.com" target="_blank">http://www.veganhealth.com</a><br><br><br><br>
Check out the site in my sig for vegan vitamin vendors as well.<br><br><br><br>
HTH

 

[desolationangel]

i smell a fish....<br><br><br><br>
btw, eggplant, do you live in tucson? i go to school there, and really wish that there was a whole foods, considering i grew up in a city with two of them. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/bigcry.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=""><br><br><br><br>
i guess i have to settle for wild oats and trader joe's.

 

[GhostUser]

This is BS. Gelatin has nothing to do with vitamin absorption. It is only used as the other poster said, to add shape and body to a product or in the case of most vitamins, to encapsulted them. The vegetarian gelatin serves the same purpose.<br><br>
Vegan vitamins are absorbed as well as any tablet or capsule form and liquids are absorbed the best.<br><br><br><br>
Any kind of vitamin info you need is here: <a href="http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~shlevy/vitamin.htm" target="_blank">Vitamins and Minerals</a><br><br><br><br>
There report is really comprehensive and very long but well worth saving for reference. Probably more info than anyone wants but thought I would post it anyhoo!

 

[CharityAJO]

Correct me if I'm wrong... But doesn't gelatin have a bit to do with how the vitamin is carried? Whether it's water or fat soluble...<br><br><br><br>
I feel like a terd. I'm a part-time supplements assistant. They don't train us! It's up to us to pick up tidbits of knowledge...<br><br><br><br>
Where's Missleigh?

 

[GhostUser]

Not really. The water-soluble vitamins are not normally stored in the body in any significant amounts. Therefore, they must be consumed in constant daily amounts to avoid depletion and interference with normal metabloic functioning.<br><br><br><br>
The fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins A, D, E and K and are soluble in fat . these vitamins are stored in the body's fatty tissues, fat deposits, and liver.<br><br>
This is what is meant by fat or water soluble and gelatin has nothing to do with this other than as a means to encapsulate and deliver them to your body. The vegetarian gel capsules do this just fine. Liquids do it even better. No gelatin needed!

 

[Thalia]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>CharityAJO</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
Correct me if I'm wrong... But doesn't gelatin have a bit to do with how the vitamin is carried? Whether it's water or fat soluble...<br><br><br><br>
I feel like a terd. I'm a part-time supplements assistant. They don't train us! It's up to us to pick up tidbits of knowledge...<br><br><br><br>
Where's Missleigh?</div>
</div>
<br>
Well it's good that they don't train you. I don't think clerks should be giving health advice or making claims about bioavailability, etc. Only pharmacists or other knowledgable and liscenced health professionals should be giving advice on those things, IMO. In fact, it's illegal for a clerk to make a claim that a certain supplement helps with a certain function/illness unless that claim has been approved by the FDA. Be careful, Charity, they sometimes do sting operations and you yourself could actually get in trouble.<br><br><br><br><a href="http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/hfsadvice.html" target="_blank">http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quackery...hfsadvice.html</a>

 

[Foxy]

The capsule or the way the pill is formed/comprised can alter the way the nutrients are absorbed. Gel-caps deliver a liquid that is encapsulated and digested at a different rate than a compreese-powder pill or tablet. That being said, *gelatin* specifically does not work as a catalyst for assimilation of nutrients.

 

[CharityAJO]

Oh, I know. We're told to play dumb. I'm not allowed to make recommendations for treating illnesses, etc.<br><br><br><br>
I feel bad telling the customers I'm clueless, though. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/smiley.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=""> Sometimes I'm just like, "look hon, go buy a carrot." I know about nutrition in food, not pills.

 

[CharityAJO]

<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Foxy</strong> <a href="/forum/post/0"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br>
The capsule or the way the pill is formed/comprised can alter the way the nutrients are absorbed. Gel-caps deliver a liquid that is encapsulated and digested at a different rate than a compreese-powder pill or tablet. That being said, *gelatin* specifically does not work as a catalyst for assimilation of nutrients.</div>
</div>
<br>
Yea, that's what I thought. See, Foxy to the rescue again.

 

[Foxy]

<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/grin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=""> You so sweeet miss Charity <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/lick.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title=":lick:">

 

[dee-vee]

gee gimmie a bowl of jello with my vitamins please! Sounds like BS to me.

 

[remilard]

I haven't seen a whole foods that doesn't carry the rice based all-one, which is vegan.

 

[GhostUser]

Interesting gelatin facts. <a href="http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/substances_view/1,1525,10151,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshel...,10151,00.html</a>