Every lot of each NOW formula that is made into tablet form is tested for proper disintegration to ensure that you get the full benefit of the ingredients.  NOW has a QC (Quality Control) department with a physical testing lab that does disintegration tests on tablets.  Our trained technicians measure disintegration of the tablet samples using USP method <2040> on accurately calibrated equipment.  This is the accepted industry method.  

While the pharmacopeia disintegration test method is the accepted industry standard, its recommended times for disintegration are simply not appropriate or accepted for all dietary supplements.  The pharmaceutical compendial standard for disintegration of vitamins and minerals is to allow no greater than 30 minutes for tablets and 45 minutes for capsules; which actually is counterintuitive, considering that capsules normally are believed to disintegrate more quickly than tablets.  In fact, this difference is well-accepted by consumers.  

Furthermore, many dietary supplements are formulated to contain natural ingredients other than vitamins and minerals, with natural physical characteristics that can vary. Since food often lingers in the stomach for an hour or two during digestion and most vitamins are designed to be taken with meals, the 30 minute recommended standard based on a drug model is unnecessary and unrealistic for many natural products.  There is no sound reason to apply this model to formulas containing ingredients other than isolated vitamins and minerals.

NOW has a specific specification for disintegration of each tableted product, typically 45 minutes.  Capsules are typically tested to disintegrate within a 40 minute window, but some capsule materials (hard 2-piece gelatin, gelatin softgels, cellulose or polysaccharide Vcaps®) disintegrate within different timeframes that may be shorter. Of course, enteric coated and sustained release formulas will take longer to disintegrate, by design.

Advanced nutrient forms - such as coenzyme forms of vitamins or chelated minerals - may actually be degraded by excessive time in the acidic stomach.  This may be a cause for concern if tablets disintegrate too quickly.

NOW Foods sets its own standards for disintegration times based on scientific and nutritional knowledge, manufacturing experience, product design and consumer acceptance. We are confident that every lot produced in our facility using independently audited Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) meets all of our critical specifications.  The disintegration times of our tablets are set to be very slightly longer than competitive products. This is because we compact more nutrients into each tablet than other brands. Our goal is to give you greater value through nutrition.

During 2005 and 2006 all 20 Adam Multivitamin tablet lots manufactured by NOW Foods passed our validated disintegration testing and met specifications for release.  Disintegration times for this particular formula ranged between 20-40 minutes, with a maximum of 45 minutes allowed.  Testing by an independent lab has confirmed that samples from one lot of Adam tablets disintegrated within 40 minutes, meeting NOW’s own specification.

You can be assured that the highly skilled Quality Control Technicians at NOW Foods continually monitor our production of tablets and test every lot for proper disintegration within our specified timeframes.  This competence ensures that the contents of our tablets will be available because the tablet will deliver the active ingredients to your stomach.

By Neil E. Levin, CCN, DANLA