1. Multivitamin Dissolution In a Vinegar Bath Brooke Coffey Undergraduate Student of Biology Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, TN 38505 20 November 2006

2. Introduction American dietary trend is progressively diverging from proper nutrition. Today’s RDA values date back to 1968 (Smith 2005) B 12 and Folic Acid U.S. & Canada Fortify Foods (Oakley 2004) Homocysteine reduction (Wald 2002) Vitamin C (Shapiro et al. 1983) Vitamin D (Johnson and Kimlin 2006)

3. Introduction Vitamin E In vascular disease (Brown and Crowley 2005) Deficiency symptoms (Higdon 2004)Higdon 2004 Vitamin K (Environmental Nutrition 2006) In blood clotting bone development

4. Introduction Many people rely on the multivitamin to provide micronutrients The vitamin may not disintegrate in the stomach Intestinal absorption is beyond the scope of this experiment. Hypothesis – multivitamin mass is directly proportional to disintegration time. Null Hypothesis– mass is not directly proportional to disintegration time.

5. Methods and Materials ConsumerLabs home test modified methodhome test 125mL portion vinegar 125mL portion of distilled water Three brands of multivitamin Erlenmeyer flask with stopper, and thermometer. Heating Mantle Stopwatch

6. Materials

8. Table 1 Multivitamin BrandTrial specifications Mass (g.)Dissolution Time (M:S) Centrum 50ct. Multivitamin 36 o C Vinegar1.4982:32 36 o C Water1.5122:35 Room temp Vinegar1.5002:41 Equate Mature Multivitamin 36 o C Vinegar1.5624:57 36 o C Water1.5135:02 Room temp Vinegar1.4895:04 OneSource Original Multivitamin 36 o C Vinegar1.49220:00 36 o C Water1.51620:00 Room temp Vinegar1.49920:00

9. Figure 1 Figure 1 comparing multivitamin mass against disintegration time in seconds

10. Results Multivitamin disintegration times were not correlated in any way with mass. All pellets weighed in within.05g of 1.5g Pellets of the same type took a similar time per environment. Pellets of different types took vastly different times to disintegrate.

11. Summary & Conclusions Centrum and Equate both dissolve in under 400 seconds. OneSource takes more than 1200 seconds. Neither pH nor heat affected the disintegration time for a brand.

12. Conclusion Multivitamin mass is not directly proportional to disintegration time. Further testing is needed to determine the significance of continuous stabilized motion as force acting in disintegration. Additional research is needed covering the contributions of ingredient quantities, and pellet coating or compaction methods to multivitamin pellet disintegration.

13. Literature Cited Brown GB, Crowley J. 2005. Is there any hope for vitamin E? JAMA 293:1387-90. ConsumerLabs.com. 2006. ConsumerLab.com "Home Test" for Disintegration. http://www.consumerlab.com/results/hometest.asp Higdon, Jane Ph.D. 2004. Linus Pauling Institute. Oregon State University http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminE/ Johnson, Mary Ann PhD., and Kimlin, Michael G. PhD. 2006. Vitamin D, Ageing, and the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Nutrition Reviews 64:410-421. McKee, Courtney H. 2005. The Effect of Pill Type on Disintegration Rate and Process. California State Science Fair. Project S0515. http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2005/Projectshttp://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2005/Projects Oakley, Godfrey P. Jr. MD. 2004. Oral Synthetic Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 Supplements Work – If One Consumes Them. Nutrition Reviews 62:22-26. Shapiro, Leona R., Samuels, Sarah., Breslow, Lester., and Camacho, Terry. 1983. Patterns of Vitamin C Intake from Food and Supplements. AJPH 73:773-778 Smith, Susan Male M.A. 2005. Vitamins, Minerals, and Multis: EN Tests Your Suppliment IQ. Environmental Nutrition 28:5-6 2006. What’s So Special About Vitamin K? Bone Builder, Arthritis Aid. Environmental Nutrition p.7.