It is this bound form of minerals that our bodies are designed to absorb and utilize.
When Melaleuca set out to create a better multivitamin & mineral supplement, they decided to start from the ground up–literally. The earth provides every mineral the human body needs for optimum health, but eating dirt–or the minerals taken from the dirt–doesn’t work.
The mineral forms found in the earth and in traditional multivitamins (gluconates, oxides, sulfates, etc.) dissolve easily in the acidic environment of the stomach, but as they pass into the intestines where absorption takes place, they crystallize (or solidify), making them very difficult, if not impossible, for the human body to absorb. So Melaleuca looked to the ideal source of minerals—fruits and vegetables. When you eat a fruit or vegetable, the minerals you‘re getting are very different from the minerals taken directly from the ground.
Only Oligo binds minerals to organic compounds (amino acids and oligofructose) to mirror the way they are found in fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods to maximize solubility.
In fact, Oligo minerals are scientifically proven to be up to 10 times more available for absorption than the minerals in the leading brands.* Traditional mineral forms can crystallize in the intestines, making them difficult to absorb.
Labels don’t indicate the rate of solubility, availability, or absorption or the nutrients inside. See the chart on the left to compare one Vitality Pack dose to brand-name multivitamins.
Oligo-bound minerals are over 85% soluble in the intestines; up to 10 times more soluble than the unbound minerals used in One A Day™ and Centrum®.‡
Minerals in traditional supplements can trigger massive free radical activity during digestion. These free radicals can actually cancel out the benefits of antioxidants like vitamins C and E. Oligo minerals are different. Oligo protects these critical antioxidants up to 5 times better than the leading brands. As a result, your body gets more of the nutrition it needs most for more energy every day and a lifetime of better health.
Because traditional vitamins and minerals are difficult for your body to absorb, it would take nearly FIVE bottles (990 pills) of Centrum® to have the same vitamin C and copper available for absorption as you would get from the Vitality Pack with Oligo.
*When tested against the sulfate, gluconate, oxide, and fumarate forms of copper, iron, manganese, and zinc (the forms commonly used by almost all commercially marketed nutritional supplements) at intestinal conditions.
†Solubility of copper, iron, manganese, and zinc at intestinal pH (7.0–7.2). Solubility for Melaleuca’s form was determined as percent of ingredient remaining in solution at pH 7.0 after being at pH 1.0 (stomach conditions). Competitors' ingredients solubility data taken from Merck Index and Handbook of Chemistry and Physics.
‡Trademarks are property of the respective owners.
§Melaleuca Preferred Customer price. Competitor product prices from Drugstore.com, April 30, 2010. Prices may vary.