First of all, what even is bioavailability and why does it matter?
Simply put, bioavailability refers to how much of a nutrient reaches the bloodstream and becomes available for the body to use. While what you put into your body matters, what your body can actually do with it matters even more. That is why bioavailability plays such an important role in the way we formulate supplements at Approved Science.
What Goes Into Making An Approved Science Product?
Before anything else, our formulators do extensive research. From deciding what types of supplements people are looking for to evaluating ingredients, dosages, nutrient forms, and suppliers, developing a new formula is a meticulous process.
At Approved Science, we formulate every product with bioavailability in mind. We do not just look at the name of an ingredient. We look at the form of the ingredient and ask whether that form makes sense for the product we are creating.
Vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients can come in different forms, and those forms do not always behave the same way inside the body. Depending on the nutrient, its form can influence factors such as absorption, stability, solubility, tolerability, and how readily the body can use it.
That means two supplements can appear to contain the same nutrient on their labels while providing it in forms that behave differently once consumed.
For us, choosing an ingredient is only the beginning. Choosing the right version of that ingredient is part of what makes us proud of our formulations.
The Form Of A Nutrient Can Make A Difference
If you have ever compared supplement labels, you may have noticed that the same vitamin or mineral can appear under several different names. Those extra words are not necessarily meaningless chemistry. They often tell you which form of the nutrient is being used.
Vitamin B12 is a good example. It can also appear as cyanocobalamin or, the more bioavailable methylcobalamin, while folate may be provided as folic acid or as forms of methylfolate.
These forms have different characteristics, which is why we look beyond the headline ingredient when developing a formula. We consider what the research says about the specific form, whether it fits the intended use of the product, and how it works alongside the rest of the formula.
The goal is not to choose an ingredient because its name looks impressive on a label. It is to choose a form that makes sense.
The Amount Matters Too
Choosing the right ingredient in the right form is only part of the equation. We also consider how much of each ingredient belongs in the formula, because including an ingredient means very little if the amount is too small to be meaningful.
When research is available, we look at the amounts that have been studied and use that evidence to help guide our formulation decisions. Different studies may use different doses, ingredient forms, populations, and durations, so there is not always one universally accepted amount.
Even so, we do not add an ingredient simply so we can feature its name on the label while including only a negligible quantity.
We are also transparent about the amounts we use. Approved Science does not rely on non-transparent proprietary blends that combine several ingredients under a single total without disclosing the amount of each one. We list our active ingredients individually, along with their amounts, so our formulas can be evaluated based on what they actually contain.
For us, dosage and transparency go together. If an ingredient earns a place in one of our formulas, we want there to be a reason for the amount we use, and we want that amount to be clear.
Want to see how this approach comes together in a finished formula? Explore Approved Science supplements and compare the ingredient forms and dosages for yourself.
Bioavailability Is About The Whole Formula
Bioavailability is not determined by a single number on a Supplement Facts panel. The form of a nutrient matters, but so can the way ingredients are combined and delivered.
Some nutrients are fat-soluble, meaning they are absorbed differently from water-soluble nutrients. Certain minerals may compete with one another for absorption, while other ingredients may complement each other when used together. The format of a supplement can matter as well, whether that means a capsule, softgel, powder, or liquid.
That is why we look at formulas as a whole rather than treating every ingredient as if it exists in isolation.
The question is not simply, Does this product contain the ingredient? It is also, What form is it in, how much is included, and does the overall formula make sense?
Why We Keep Coming Back To Bioavailability
When you buy a supplement, you are not buying an ingredient list. You are buying a formulation.
That distinction matters to us.
We want to know which form of an ingredient we are using, why we chose it, how much is included, and how it fits into the rest of the formula. Bioavailability is one part of that process, but it represents a bigger principle behind Approved Science products: what is inside the bottle should be there for a reason.
Because when it comes to supplements, what you take matters, but what your body can actually use matters just as much.
Ready to find a formula built with more than just an ingredient checklist in mind?