Gel Caps

More Convenient Than Pills And Tablets

If you are looking for an easy and convenient way to take your medicine or your vitamin supplements, look for them in gel caps. Most of the medicines and vitamin supplements available today in pills or tablet forms are offensive to the taste. Because of this, when we need to take them due to sickness or poor health, we hesitate because if they are not bitter, their taste is almost always unpleasant. These are the reasons why gel caps became popular. With them, you are able to take your medicine and supplements easily without being bothered by their offensive odor or tastes.

Gel caps are basically made of gelatin. Gelatin as it is commonly defined is animal jelly, a glutinous substance derived from animal tissues. This is done through repeated boiling of the part of the animal where it is taken from. It is a nitrogenous colloid that does not normally exist in the body but is formed on the collagen of connective tissues such as ligaments, bones and tendons, induced by the hydrating action of boiling water. Gelatin has the quality of forming a jelly when cooled and dissolving when heated. It is colorless, odorless and tasteless. Some say that it is good for the joints. This material is also easily digested and absorbed by the body.

Gel Caps Advantages
There are many advantages of using medicines and vitamin supplements in gel caps. Here are some of the most notable ones.

• Gel caps are more beneficial to those who have digestive problems. When such individuals take vitamin pills or tablets, they may not be fully broken down by the digestive process therefore a lot of the substance will just be wasted. If these nutrients or medicine are in gel caps, they will always be dissolved because the exterior of the gel cap is easily liquefied.
• Those who have health conditions that slows down the absorption of vitamins and medicines can also benefit when they use gel caps. When you are under chronic stress, you are releasing high amounts of cortisone. In this condition, your blood vessels will be constricted, inhibiting the flow of blood which will also raise your blood pressure. With gel caps, the substances are released with lesser density, causing them to be quickly dispersed and making them easier to dissolve.
• With gel caps, you can absorb more vitamins compared to hard pills and tablets. The gel caps contain liquid substances unlike the hard solid substances in tablets and pills. When the capsules exterior cover is dissolved by your stomach acids, they are quickly released and absorbed into your bloodstream where they are delivered in your organs where they are needed. There are even time-release gel capsules that regulate the dispersal of the substances according to your needs.
• Gel caps are ideal for substances which have strong tastes and odors. You can take fish oils, cod liver oil, vitamins E and D easily if they are in gel caps rather than in their raw forms. Putting these nutrients in gel caps retains all their natural properties while putting them in tablets and pills necessitates additional processing which may alter their natural compositions. You will receive the full benefit of the nutrients when you take them in gel caps.

Types of Gel Caps
Although gel caps are generally colorless, there are manufacturers who produce different capsules with a variety of colors. Aside from that, there are also some distinguishing qualities that make one gel cap different from another. Here are some of the types of gel caps you will see in the market.

• Colorless or transparent gel caps
• Colored gel caps such as red, orange, blue, pink, etc.
• Hard gel caps
• Soft gel caps
• Special gel caps that are actually tablets that are coated with gelatin. Plasticizers are added to the gelatin to make it more stable and flexible.

Gel Cap Sizes
Gel caps come in many different sizes and each manufacturer has a separate method of classifying their gel sizes. But size “0” is the industry standard and the most popular size of gel caps. To give a comparison, the contents of size “0” is about 50% less than the contents of size “00”. Some manufacturers classify their gel caps starting from 1, 0, 00 and 000. The contents of a typical “0” capsules is about 400 to 800 mg. The gel caps being sold in the market come in different sizes. Size “000” is the biggest of all gel caps and is used only for special purposes since they are so big and quite difficult to swallow.