So I’ve been curious as to how medicines have been made, from how extracts of plants/vitamins are made, to the precise components that are fused together to make the supplements that we see in vitamin stores today.
In: Chemistry
Specific plants are high in certain vitamins. Given that we’ve had a lot of time to figure out how to extract those specific vitamins from the plants, it allows us to be able to get almost pure versions of those vitamins. For example, rose hips are very high in vitamin C. They grind up and extract the vitamin C from the powdered rose hips. They then combine the vitamin C with a binding agent that when it is squished into a form under high pressure, it sticks together in a tablet form. For pills you swallow whole, they are coated with something to prevent moisture in the air breaking them apart and to help you swallow them. The binding agent is different based on the application. Chewable tablets use a binding agent that is easier to break apart, typically.
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