【柏格醫生】維他命什麼時候吃最好？保健食品「最佳服用時間表」，吃對吸收率大增！

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Let's talk about something really practical, when to take your vitamins.

[00:00:04]Should you take them before bed, with a meal, on an empty stomach, in the morning? Now, I'm going to discuss this, but I will say I've been known to be wrong about this topic. Sometimes I'll tell people to take vitamins before bed, and all of a sudden it wakes them up. On the other hand, I'll tell people to take vitamins in the morning and it puts them to sleep. Now, that's rare, but it could happen, so you're going to have to test things out. So, I'm going to give you some general tips to follow. It's not absolute, but I think it could be helpful in and uh just the absorption and the effectiveness of these remedies.

[00:00:34]There's two types of vitamins. You have the water-soluble and the fat-soluble vitamins. So, fat-soluble vitamins absorb a little bit better if you take them with fat. So, if you took fat-soluble vitamins before a meal, for example, uh chances are they're going to be absorbed a little bit better. But, a lot of fat-soluble vitamins come with their own fat. They come with either MCT oil or sometimes they'll come with a little olive oil, but not always. But, that being said, you're doing fasting and you're not eating for several days, uh just take the vitamins whenever you can because you're going to absorb a good amount. But, the um taking some fat with a vitamin just helps the absorption a little bit better. So, that would include vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K1 and K2. Now, most people don't take vitamin A, but they take cod liver oil to get vitamin A, D, and omega-3 fatty acids because all three of those nutrients can be better absorbed with oil. But, here's the thing, cod liver oil is not a vitamin. It contains vitamins in an oil, omega-3 fatty acid, and so vitamin A and vitamin D are going to be absorbed. So, you could realistically take cod liver oil at any point of the day, uh probably not before bed, but I just wanted to emphasize the relationship between the fat-soluble vitamins and using some fat while absorbing them. Personally, I take my cod liver oil in the morning when uh when I wake up. Now, let's talk about some of the exceptions to things like vitamin D3. Uh really helps most people sleep better. So, sometimes I'll take vitamin D right before bed. Other times I'll just take it in the early morning cuz the vitamin D that I have already comes with its own fat, as well as the the K2. Now, vitamin E, for example, I recommend if you're going to take vitamin E, take it in the form of tocotrienols because they just work a lot better than the tocopherols. And I don't recommend getting a mixed between the tocotrienols and the tocopherol. Um I would just recommend getting a the tocotrienols complex, and that would be a good one to take uh with meals. Now, the other thing you should know is a lot of the phytonutrients, carotenoids, sulforaphane, flavonoids, are fat-soluble.

[00:02:55]Okay? This is why it's good to have olive oil on your salad because you're going to extract more of these phytonutrients. So, if you're taking a phytonutrient blend, whether it's cruciferous blend or or maybe some other herb with curcumin, like you're taking turmeric, which has curcumin in there, might be a good idea to take that with a meal, so you'll extract more of that fat-soluble nutrient from that uh compound. Even wheatgrass juice powder, uh if you took that with a meal, you may extract a little bit more of the carotenoids and other phytonutrients in that product. But, for convenience's sake, a lot of people take it in the morning, and that's totally fine. And then, of course, some people take it right before bed, and they tend to sleep better. So, I'm just pointing out some general suggestions that you may want to try, but again, there's always lots of exceptions. Like some people will forget to take it or it's not convenient because they are they're going somewhere and they're going to be eating and they're not they don't want to take their vitamins. Well, just take them in the morning on an empty stomach. It's not a big deal. Now, as far as what else to take right before a meal, definitely you want to take the betaine hydrochloride. That's in a lot of um digestive formulas, but betaine hydrochloride is an acidifier. So, that's always to be taken right before a meal. And then, also if you're taking enzymes to help you digest, like digestive enzymes, take those before a meal. Can you take them after the meal?

[00:04:19]Yes. You can even take betaine hydrochloride after the meal. Um like in Thanksgiving, I have a bottle of betaine hydrochloride or my digestive formula uh on the table, and so I have found that when people overeat, they can take some of that after the meal, and it helps them with digestion. So, there's not this hard rule uh that you have to always take it right before. Some people take it right in the middle of the meal.

[00:04:44]The only time you wouldn't want to take it is if you have an ulcer or gastritis because you're going to add an acid to something that already has too much acid or something that is um kind of an open wound. Now, one point about bile salts, they're ox bile or any products with bile like gallbladder formula, um you may see better benefit if you have that right after the meal.

[00:05:07]Why is that? Because here you are, you are digesting all this food, right? And if you actually take um well, this is for some people. If some people take this bile salt or bile salt products before the meal, well, they may alkalize their foods to certain degree, and they might not get the full digestion. But, if you have enough stomach acid, it's not going to make a difference, okay? This is mainly for people who don't have enough stomach acid. Anytime you take the bile salts and you feel worse, chances are you need to switch gears and start adding more um acid to the stomach like betaine hydrochloride to build that up because that could be one of the reasons why you're not producing enough bile, you don't have the activator, the acidifier, the betaine hydrochloride. But, general rule of thumb, take the betaine hydrochloride before the meal and the bile salts after the meal. All right, what to take on an empty stomach.

[00:06:02]There's a really popular or I think should be more popular uh product called Tudca, which is a type of bile salt, a little different than your typical bile salt. But, Tudca can help with a lot of different things. Um I like to recommend it if someone has bile sludge and they have kind of like a backup in the bile ducts and they have like nauseousness or they might have pain um on underneath the right rib cage or the left rib cage.

[00:06:29]But, you can use it for many different things. Uh for dementia because it crosses the blood-brain barrier. You can use it for issues with the liver like cirrhosis or scar tissue. If you have any weird symptoms that are not responding, uh I always recommend Tudca and it seems to work, especially if it's related to digestion. That is a good one to take on an empty stomach, and I would probably recommend anywhere between one or two in the early part of the day and one or two in the afternoon on an empty stomach. If you take them with the meal, you may find that that acts on the fats in the meal and not on kind of like clearing out certain type of um like blockages within the system. So, um I recommend taking it on an empty stomach, about at least an hour before meal or an hour after the meal. Another one is activated charcoal. If you're detoxifying, you want to take that on an empty stomach. Another one is bentonite clay as something to absorb toxins.

[00:07:28]Individual amino acids, so let's say you're taking tryptophan. Well, if you take it with a meal, you it's not going to work because these other amino acids from the meal will compete with tryptophan, kind of negates the effectiveness. So, take the amino acids on an empty stomach. Trace minerals, another good one to take on an empty stomach, but again, I take them in the morning, which actually is an empty stomach, but I wouldn't uh not tell you to take it with a meal. It could work nicely. But, here's the thing about trace minerals.

[00:08:00]Like all minerals, when you have better acid in the stomach and it's not diluted from a meal, you may get a little bit better absorption. Because in order to absorb minerals and trace minerals, you need that hydrochloric acid in a certain strength. So, you'll get a little more absorption if you take your minerals or trace minerals on an empty stomach where that acid is just like ready to just to pull it right in, and it's not diluted with any other types of foods. The next point is, what should you take before bed? I typically recommend taking the your calcium before bed if you're going to take calcium and your magnesium before bed. I don't recommend taking calcium with your meals because it's an alkalizer, and it can alkalize uh the acid to some degree. So, take that before you go to bed. And the reason you would take it is either for leg cramps or to help sleep. Like let's say, for example, you're tired, but your head is not tired. You're like your head is awake.

[00:09:01]Uh calcium tends to work for that, and there's many other reasons why to take calcium, but typically I don't recommend people take a lot of calcium um but here and there, but not on a regular basis, especially if in your postmenopausal cuz it can actually increase your risk of getting heart attacks. Magnesium is a good one to take in the evening right before bed, helps relax you, it helps with muscle cramps.

[00:09:22]Probiotics are really good to take before you go to bed. [clears throat] So many people, especially initially, start to detox or have some type of immune reaction when they take an a probiotic or even sometimes when they take colostrum because it affects the immune system to a certain degree, and it may um create a reaction uh increasing histamines and make you a little bit more tired. So, if you take it before bed, you don't know any difference because you're sleeping. Now, vitamin D3, uh it helps me sleep. I find with the majority of people, it will help them sleep, but not everyone. Some people it will make them stay up. So, you'll have to test the waters on that. But, vitamin D is really important in the circadian rhythm and it can help like jet lag and resetting your clock that controls the circadian wave.

[00:10:13]Vitamin B1 is a good one to take before bed as well, especially if you're thinking and analyzing things to death.

[00:10:19]You take the natural B1. I would I recommend natural B1 before bed, not the synthetic, and you will sleep a little bit better. It also helps decrease stress. Also, any like detoxifying herbs.

[00:10:33]I have tried so many different like remedies to detox myself and um I always recommend taking before bed because if they create that immune reaction, what you're going to notice is you're just going to sleep better because they create a little bit of a histamine response and a little bit of fatigue.

[00:10:48]So, herbs that increase detoxification like DIM, which is a cruciferous extract, um would be one, but there's many other, you know, like kidney detoxifiers or liver detoxifiers. Take those at night.

[00:11:02]I would take that more with um like your lunch or your meal of the day because it has a lot of the other phytonutrients.

[00:11:10]But, DIM being a concentrated version of the cruciferous, that's more for detoxifying estrogen.

[00:11:17]That should be taken before bed. Now, as far as um apple cider vinegar, okay? If you want to help your blood sugars in the morning, um you know, maybe like an hour before bed, put that in a little bit of water and drink that down.

[00:11:29]I don't recommend drinking a lot of water before bed, but to get the apple cider vinegar down or even to take apple cider vinegar in a pill form, it can help you wake up with better blood sugars. It can even help your sleep.

[00:11:40]I've done videos on that.

[00:11:42]You can also take um apple cider vinegar with your meals, which I recommend, and also even on an empty stomach with your water. Like I I'll take a big glass of water, um probably 20 oz in the morning with my apple cider vinegar, my lemon, and sometimes I'll add my electrolyte powder in there and I'll drink that down with a lot of the supplements. Now, this is basically with a meal or without a meal. Of course, hopefully you're not doing a meal in the morning, so you're fasting. But, this is when I would recommend taking your electrolyte powder um because if you take the electrolyte powder high in potassium before bed, you might be waking up urinating a lot because it gets rid of excessive fluid.

[00:12:24]So, I like uh the electrolytes in the morning. Plus, potassium gives you a good amount of energy. That being said, it does help people sleep because it does take a good amount of energy to help with the sleep cycles. So, here I am recommending in the morning, but some people do the opposite and take it right before bed and sleep through the night and do fine. And even sometimes people take it right before they work out to get more energy. You want to take things that give you energy like early in the day, right? Like B12. That would be a good one to take in the morning. Any type of herbs that are stimulatory like uh ginseng, maca. Okay? These are things that can increase energy. You take those in the morning. So, I just wanted to give you uh some general tips and rules on vitamins and minerals and other things and when you should take them.

[00:13:07]All right. So, now that you learned that, now it's time to learn the nine foods that contain all of your fat-soluble vitamins right here.