How to Test Vitamins at Home By Dissolving in Water

For a supplement to be truly useful to your body, it must first be dissolved and absorbed. If the supplement doesn't fully disintegrate, your body can't use it and a portion of the supplement passes through your digestive tract still intact. Companies that rank supplements often look at when the pill dissolves as part of their ranking process. You can do a similar test at home to be sure you're getting the most from your supplements.

Heat water to 98 degrees Fahrenheit, using a thermometer to measure the temperature. This simulates the temperature inside your body 1.

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Pour 1 cup of the hot water into a glass. To keep the water warm throughout the test, you can place the heat-safe glass on a hotplate set on low. Or place the glass of water into a hot water bath in a double boiler. Monitor the temperature to avoid large deviations from 98 degrees.

Drop a single supplement you want to test into the water and stir it about every five minutes. Try not to touch the supplement with the spoon or toothpick you stir with and do not crush the supplement.

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Observe the supplement after 30 minutes. It should have completely dissolved.

Tips

If your supplement hasn't fully dissolved after one hour, it's not doing much good in your body. Select a different brand of supplement to improve the percentage that dissolves and gets absorbed.

Warnings

Certain supplements, such as time-release supplements and chewable supplements, likely won't dissolve in this test. In addition, laboratories use special equipment and processes to test supplement dissolvability. You may not achieve the same results doing an experiment at home.