Ideally, the food we eat is supposed to provide us with the vitamins and minerals our body requires but the diet of most people lacks many of the needed nutrients due to over processing. When people suspect their basic dietary needs are not being fulfilled they should consider taking vitamin and mineral supplements.

There is a long tradition of delivering vitamins, minerals and other nutritional supplements in the form of pills, capsules and tablets. However, in recent years it has been discovered that the most effective way to have your body absorb vitamins and other nutritional supplements is in liquid form and delivered through an oral spray or a dropper. There are various reasons why liquid supplements are more advantageous.

Liquid supplements allow a person's body to directly absorb the nutrients into the bloodstream within seconds through the buccal mucosa (the cells of your mouth). Pills, capsules and tablets are designed to be broken down in the digestive track where absorption and benefits could take hours.

The highly respected Physician's Desk Reference contains research that states that only about 10% to 20% of the nutrients in vitamins pills are absorbed into the human body. The rest ends up as waste. It also states that absorption of liquid supplement drinks or sprays can be 98%. Other research shows that liquid supplements can be up to 10 times more effective than nutritional supplements in pill form.

Additionally, pills, capsules and tablets are made with many "inactive" or binding ingredients that have no benefit to the body and actually inhibit absorption. All you need to do is read a few labels on vitamin containers and you'll see a list of these "inactive" ingredients that include wax, talcum powder, sugar, yeast and starch all which make it more difficult for the body to breakdown and eventually absorb the active ingredients.

Taking pill-type supplements can be tedious and unpleasant for many people especially the elderly. They cannot stand throwing pills into the back of their mouth and forcefully trying to consume them with a glass of water. Due to the varying sizes of pill type supplements many people experience a gag reflex, and the dry and chalky after-taste becomes a barrier. All of these problems are avoided by the use of liquid vitamins and supplements.

In general, using liquid supplements, particularly delivered by a spray or dropper, is much more effective and convenient to carry about and administer. They taste good and the body does not need to work hard to absorb the active ingredients. When sprayed or dropped in the mouth and held for 10 to 20 seconds the nutrients are absorbed and enter the bloodstream in seconds or minutes not hours it takes for pills. Many health experts now believe that this delivery system is most beneficial to the body considering that it offers a quicker full delivery of nutrients. Other than having them delivered through an IV at a doctor's office or hospital, a liquid or spray is the best most cost effective way to receive your daily vitamins and supplements.