So, What Exactly Is Bioavailability?

At VitaCare Supplements, we care deeply about you and your health. We treat our customers as our family and, as such, aim to educate you—our extended family—about the way your bodies work, so that you can make more informed decisions about your health and well-being.

Today, we want to talk to you about bioavailability. Bioavailability is the proportion of a nutrient that is absorbed from your diet and used for normal bodily functions. When we talk about bioavailability as related to our health, we are referring to the process of how vitamins, minerals, etc. are made available to our bodies for everyday use.

So, what determines whether these nutrients are indeed absorbed from your diet? Well, multiple factors are at play, including the nutrient content of the food, whether it has been processed, and what the interactions among the components of your diet include.

When most of us talk about eating in a healthy manner, we are most likely referring to outdated notions of what being healthy actually means. Although it is still true that a balanced diet is key, and that some foods—such as veggies, fruits, and lean meat—are better than, say, a diet of cake and queso every evening, the truth of nutrients is a lot more complex than the food pyramid we learned about in elementary school.

Oftentimes, gathering the needed amount of nutrients from our diets can be difficult, for a plethora of valid reasons. With this being the case, many Americans are turning to supplements and multivitamins as a way to get all the needed nutrients.

However, this fundamental shift in the American demographic’s behavior leads us to an important question: Are supplements better when they are derived from our diet and other natural (at least 10% real, plant-driven ingredients) sources, or are they better derived from a lab?

The answer to this, and to many other pressing health questions, will be the focus of this blog moving forward. Make sure to return to VitaCare’s blog in two weeks for more helpful information about vitamins, supplements, and bioavailability.