what is the difference between times released and regular multivitamins?

Answer 1

Think about driving a car. There are two general ways of getting going from a stopped position (like a traffic light or stop sign): you can 'floor it' and go for an all-out acceleration, or you can gradually accerate. One is famous for getting attention, the other is easy on the machinery and often has an advantage of helping improve your gas mileage results.

A similar thing happens with medicine. If I just forgot to duck and banged my head on a pipe, when I go to the medicine cabinet, I want something fast--really fast. But if I have, say a bad back or an injured knee. I know the pain is going to be there for a long, long time. For this long-term need, the pharmaceutical companies have developed a series of time release techniques that are good for the long-term. Those are sometimes adapted for things like multivitamins and dietary supplements like calcium, etc.

If you take a multivitamin before you go to bed, then the regular pill may work for you. If vitamins energize you and you have difficulty sleeping when you do this, then you will want to either switch to a different time (such as when you awaken) or a different formulation--likely a time release, so you don't get the whole load at once for the rush that keeps you awake.

The advantage to taking the pill at night is that it can work when you don't have a lot of other work going on. Sleep time is when the body does a lot of maintenance and clean up, and a good load of vitamins often find themselves immediately put to work.

Sudden release also has another side effect to some people. I was once feeling kind of down and got to thinking, maybe I don't have quite enough in my diet, so I started one morning with a popular multivitamin (not time release). I walked to work, sat down to await the next batch of work to come in, then stood up to get it--and passed out. They hauled me off to the doctor. He laughed and said since I hadn't been using them this pill was a shock to my system. I would get over it, or I could use a time release to break into it more gently. He also suggested, which worked for me, that the same pill might work if I took it before bed, which it did. (Note, his advice to me is not his advice to you, talk to your own doctor)

Answer 2

A time released multivitamin are made to be released all during the day. The other kind after swallowing go right to the blood stream and some goes out through the urine.

Answer 3

Regular vitamins are absorbed into the body all at one time. Time released is disbursed evenly through out the day.