Basically I take my B Complex vits as well as other Vitamins and Minerals with breakfast and within 10-15 mins (post breakfast), i visit toilet daily. I always thought that Vitamins have to go through your entire body first and only the food which has been processed through stomach (and after all essential nutrients have been absorbed by body/blood) ends up in the bowel but one of my friends told me that's not the case and i'm wasting my time and money if I go for poo within half hour of taking them. I always thought any excessive water-soluble vits or minerals get excreted through kidneys and bladder. Can someone please shed some light on this with evidence???
thanks in advance..
Written by
Haider5
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Your post breakfast bowel movement will have nothing to do with the food you've just eaten, except in that eating breakfast may trigger the urge to go. Your bowel movement will be from yesterday, or even the day before's food. I'm not sure what your friend means by it being ineffective if you go within half an hour, that's really not how the body works. Anything that you eat, in a healthy person at least, is broken down and processed by the body which can take many hours to fully complete. Your stool is essentially just bacteria, fiber, and water.
Your friend may have heard that multivitamins are ineffective and a waste of money but has perhaps misunderstood why. The majority of brands that you pick up in the supermarkets are an ill-considered balance of cheap synthetic chemicals that in many cases could, arguably, do you more harm than good. There are many variants of each vitamin and mineral each of which are processed by the body in different ways. You may be better off looking into specific vitamins that are hard to get through diet alone (for example, but not limited to, magnesium) and, if you are otherwise healthy, getting what you need from eating a varied, healthy diet.
Some B Complex tablets are not that good for people with Hashi's because they use the synthetic versions of B12, folate and B6. Our sluggish guts are somewhat compromised when it comes to converting the synthetic into the usable forms of these vitamins. I understand why a lot of people are disillusioned with supplements. Magnesium works with B-vitamins, so best to take together.
Even the most healthy people bowels take around 3 hours to digest food.
The only time you would go to toilet within an hour of having breakfast to get rid of food you have just eaten is if you are intolerant to something you ate at that time, and stools will be more runny. (Have a search online for the Bristol stool chart)
Generally when I take B complex tablets my urine is bright yellow due to the vitamin B2 but this happens a few hours after taking them.
BTW If you have milk (or milk substitutes) with your breakfast, and drink tea/coffee then taking vitamins and minerals at that time is a bad idea due to the fact that many vitamins and minerals interact with calcium and tannins so have decreased absorption.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Need help (confused) 
New to NDT need advice 
confused about advice and test results
Confused with test results - advice please!
