Definition:
“Bioavailability describes the concentration of a drug in systemic blood to the amount of drug given.”
How a drug is administered effects bioavailability.
Intravenous (IV) administration, for example, has a bioavailability of 100%, because by definition bioavailability is the amount of drug in the bloodstream to the amount of a drug given and there are other administration forms such as orally, intramuscular, rectal, nasal, inhalation, etc.
The by far most common administration of supplements is orally. Oral bioavailability, depending on the administration vehicle (gummy, tablet, capsules etc.) is lower, because administered supplements must pass through your gastrointestinal tract, the intestinal wall and then the portal circulation to the liver; both are common sites of first-pass metabolism (metabolism that occurs before a drug reaches systemic circulation).
Bioavailability degradation due to pH and digestive enzymes of the middle GI tract and further processing by the liver are inevitable when ingredients are swallowed.
Thus, many drugs may be metabolized before adequate plasma concentrations are reached. Insufficient time for absorption in the gastrointestinal tract is a common cause of low bioavailability. If the drug does not dissolve readily or cannot penetrate the epithelial membrane (eg, if it is highly ionized and polar), time at the absorption site may be insufficient. In such cases, bioavailability tends to be highly variable as well as low for most supplements administered orally.
Key points are that oral administration tends to produce low bioavailability as well as highly variable bioavailability. Orally administered supplements and drugs will have a bioavailability of about 10% to 50%.
In comparison to capsules and tablets, our vegan chews begin their digestion and hence dissolution, which determines absorption, in your mouth through the cells inside your oral cavity, especially through cells under your tongue (sublingually).
Chewing a gummy is a huge benefit in comparison to simply swallowing capsules for example, because sublingual cells innately are designed to assist digestion and have the ability to absorb nutrients directly into the bloodstream skipping the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and the liver processes and avoiding bioavailability degradation.
This is why our gummy chews greatly surpass most capsules and tablets in terms of bioavailability, because ingredient absorption starts already inside your mouth. Further, we use special fiber and natural coatings to protect our ingredients when they pass through your first pass
metabolism.
The lower bioavailability leads to bigger and more capsules to reach a comparable blood concentration of active ingredients. Mastication (chewing) is shown to activate certain areas of your brain and positively
influence cognitive function and brain oxygenation, which completely is missing by only swallowing a capsule. Further, swallowing without chewing can lead to complications such as dysphagia, which in turn can lead to lung infections, pneumonia, and digestive problems. We believe that
swallowing without the chewing process, as is the case with most tablets and capsules today, will over time lead to diseases, because it simply goes against the natural function of our organs.
Another aspect is that our brain receives only about one sixth of cardiac output and is protected by the blood-brain barrier which restricts most polar compound drug penetration. Some liquid soluble drugs on the other hand enter the brain easily. Highly protein-bound drugs penetrate into the brain slowly. CNS and brain drug administration rate is determined primarily by permeability. With age this natural barrier becomes less effective and allows increased amounts of compounds into the brain.
Once an ingredient reaches the systemic blood supply, its distribution throughout your body’s tissue most likely will be uneven, due to differences in blood perfusion, regional pH levels, and overall permeability of cell membranes.
Here is one study that compared the bioavailability between a gummy administration and a tablet for Vitamin D3.
Ref: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6566230/ Wagner CL, Shary JR, Nietert PJ, Wahlquist AE, Ebeling MD, Hollis BW. Bioequivalence Studies of Vitamin D Gummies and Tablets in Healthy Adults: Results of a Cross-Over Study. Nutrients. 2019 May 7;11(5):1023. doi: 10.3390/nu1105102