Bioequivalence Studies of Vitamin D Gummies and Tablets in Healthy Adults: Results of a Cross-Over Study
Nutrients 2019, 11(5), 1023; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11051023 (registering DOI)
Carol L. Wagner 1,, Judy R. Shary 1, Paul J. Nietert 2OrcID, Amy E. Wahlquist 2, Myla D. Ebeling 1 and Bruce W. Hollis 1
- The participants chewed the gummies but did not chew the hard tablets
- Saliva from chewing started the digestive process for gummies, but not for the tablets
- Suspect that the stomach acid did not disolve the hard tablets enough to get the Vitamin D available to the small intestine
- Also suspect the participants did not consume any oil-based meal concurrently to activate the gallbladder
- Suspect no difference would have been found if they had compared gummies to water-based vitamin D in capsules - which would not rbe restricted by stomach acid nor lack of bile to digest oil-soluable Vitamin D
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The objective of this investigation was to compare bioavailability between single oral dose Vitamin D3 (vitD3) gummies vs. tablets in healthy adults. An initial crossover, randomized clinical trial involving healthy adults (n = 9) was conducted followed by a larger, confirmatory study (n = 31). Healthy participants aged 18–45 years with body mass index (BMI) 18–30 without anemia or vitD deficiency were randomized to receive 20,000 international units (IU) vitD3 as single dose gummies or tablets with serial samples obtained to measure plasma vitD3 at baseline, 3, 6, 10, 24, and 48 h followed by a 2-week washout period. The same participants then crossed over to receive 20,000 IU vitD3 in the form not previously given, with sampling at the same time points. Deidentified blood samples were analyzed for vitD3 concentration by liquid chromatography (LC)-mass spectroscopy. In Study 1, results suggested bioavailability was greater with gummies compared with tablets, (effect size 1.08 at 24 h). In Study 2, the area under the concentration curve (AUC) was higher with gummies than tablets (gummy mean (95% CI): 1474 ng·/mL (1393–1555); tablet mean (95% CI): 774 ng·h/mL (693–855), p < 0.0001). Average peak blood concentration (Cmax) values were significantly higher with gummies (gummy: 47.3 ng/mL; tablet: 23.4 ng/mL; p < 0.0001). VitD3 gummies had greater bioavailability than tablets with higher vitD concentrations over time, which may have implications for achieving vitD sufficiency