Thursday, December 11, 2008

What's in Your Vitamins?

There is so much in the news these days about the dangers of taking supplements. I've read about everything from lead to plastics found in common brand-name supplements. We really have to be cautious and do our homework!

I am going to post about some screening questions to use when looking at vitamin labels... but until then, here is a simple and fun experiment you can do at home! And, by all means, get your kids involved. If they're like mine, they will love to watch through the oven door.

First preheat your oven to 350.
Then line a baking dish with aluminum foil or parchment paper -- something to protect your pan.
Place your own supplements on the foil or paper.
Bake just as you would bake bread.
Watch to see what comes out.

You want to see your supplement brown on top like a nice loaf of bread.
You don't want to see black, toxic ooze spilling onto the foil or paper. This is a sign that your supplement contains coal tar fillers, plastics or other synthetic, non-food ingredients.
If this happens, consider yourself in the market for a new supplement company. You wouldn't want to be digesting a daily dose of toxic sludge in the name of doing your body good.

If you are adventuresome and do this at-home activity, please comment to let me know your results! And, stay tuned for more supplement information...

2 comments:

maternal pride said...

Oh, my goodness! thank-you, I never thought of this.

Lisa Grace said...

Okay, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

One thing I have done is drop them in a cup of water. What dissolves after several hours is about all your body will be able to absorb.

We have a friend who works in a hospital and calls a certain type of vitamin the "bedpan bullet" because it passes nearly whole. Crazy, right? No benefits from that one!