Multivitamin Dissolution In a Vinegar Bath

Brooke CoffeyUndergraduate Student of Biology

Tennessee Technological UniversityCookeville, TN 38505

20 November 2006

Introduction

American dietary trend is progressively diverging from proper nutrition.Today’s RDA values date back to 1968 (Smith 2005)

B12 and Folic Acid U.S. & Canada Fortify Foods (Oakley 2004) Homocysteine reduction (Wald 2002)

Vitamin C (Shapiro et al. 1983)Vitamin D (Johnson and Kimlin 2006)

Introduction

Vitamin E In vascular disease (Brown and Crowley 2005) Deficiency symptoms (Higdon 2004)

Vitamin K (Environmental Nutrition 2006) In blood clotting bone development

Introduction

Many people rely on the multivitamin to provide micronutrients The vitamin may not disintegrate in the stomach Intestinal absorption is beyond the scope of this

experiment.

Hypothesis – multivitamin mass is directly proportional to disintegration time. Null Hypothesis– mass is not directly proportional to

disintegration time.

Methods and Materials

ConsumerLabs home test modified method 125mL portion vinegar 125mL portion of distilled

water Three brands of

multivitamin Erlenmeyer flask with

stopper, and thermometer. Heating Mantle Stopwatch

Materials

Materials

Table 1

Multivitamin Brand Trial specifications

Mass (g.) Dissolution Time (M:S)

Centrum 50ct. Multivitamin

36 oC Vinegar 1.498 2:32

36oC Water 1.512 2:35

Room temp Vinegar 1.500 2:41

Equate Mature Multivitamin

36 oC Vinegar 1.562 4:57

36oC Water 1.513 5:02

Room temp Vinegar 1.489 5:04

OneSource Original Multivitamin

36 oC Vinegar 1.492 20:00

36oC Water 1.516 20:00

Room temp Vinegar 1.499 20:00

Figure 1

Figure 1 comparing multivitamin mass against disintegration time in seconds

Multivitamin Disintegration

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Centrum Equate OneSource

Multivitamin Brands

Dis

inte

gra

tio

n [

s]

Warm Vinegar

Warm Water

Room Temp. Vinegar

Results

Multivitamin disintegration times were not correlated in any way with mass. All pellets weighed in within .05g of 1.5g Pellets of the same type took a similar time per

environment. Pellets of different types took vastly different

times to disintegrate.

Summary & Conclusions

Centrum and Equate both dissolve in under 400 seconds.

OneSource takes more than 1200 seconds.

Neither pH nor heat affected the disintegration time for a brand.

Conclusion

Multivitamin mass is not directly proportional to disintegration time.

Further testing is needed to determine the significance of continuous stabilized motion as force acting in disintegration.

Additional research is needed covering the contributions of ingredient quantities, and pellet coating or compaction methods to multivitamin pellet disintegration.

Literature Cited

Brown GB, Crowley J. 2005. Is there any hope for vitamin E? JAMA 293:1387-90.

ConsumerLabs.com. 2006. ConsumerLab.com "Home Test" for Disintegration. http://www.consumerlab.com/results/hometest.asp

Higdon, Jane Ph.D. 2004. Linus Pauling Institute. Oregon State Universityhttp://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminE/

Johnson, Mary Ann PhD., and Kimlin, Michael G. PhD. 2006. Vitamin D, Ageing, and the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Nutrition Reviews 64:410-421.

McKee, Courtney H. 2005. The Effect of Pill Type on Disintegration Rate and Process. California State Science Fair. Project S0515. http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2005/Projects

Oakley, Godfrey P. Jr. MD. 2004. Oral Synthetic Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 Supplements Work – If One Consumes Them. Nutrition Reviews 62:22-26.

Shapiro, Leona R., Samuels, Sarah., Breslow, Lester., and Camacho, Terry. 1983. Patterns of Vitamin C Intake from Food and Supplements. AJPH 73:773-778

Smith, Susan Male M.A. 2005. Vitamins, Minerals, and Multis: EN Tests Your Suppliment IQ. Environmental Nutrition 28:5-6

2006. What’s So Special About Vitamin K? Bone Builder, Arthritis Aid. Environmental Nutrition p.7.