How Vitamins And Pills Are Produced

By Author: William Hauselberg
Total Articles: 816
Comment this article

Many of us take medications or vitamin supplements in pill form without ever considering just how they are made. Manufacturing tablets is a complicated process that has been fairly streamlined into a mechanical assembly line procedure that is efficient and consistent. The biggest human factor by far is in research and development. Once a particular formula is established and capsule development wrapped up, the rest is fairly standardized.

Finding the Formula

Making vitamins begins in the lab, with researchers trying to find the best and most cost-efficient recipe for the supplement they wish to sell. Before manufacturing tablets, every ingredient is determined and sourced. Truly natural vitamins come from food sources; although, vitamins made synthetically also lay claim to the term “natural.”

In addition to the active ingredients, fillers, binders, and disintegration aids might be added. Many vitamins and most medications are far bigger than what the active ingredients would be by themselves. Fillers are used to make them large enough to easily handle and consume. They are usually things like corn starch, ...
... sugars, lactose, or wheat products. Colorants, lubricants and flavorings might be added as well.

Vitamins aren't regulated nearly as stringently as medications, but most of them have been tested over the years and deemed safe in recommended doses. With capsule development over, it's time to start manufacturing tablets.

Putting it Together

For capsules, ingredients are mixed according to the formula and then fed into an encapsulating machine. Precise amounts of the mixture flow into the bottom portion of a capsule on a rotating dish, then the top part is pressed on.

Tablets and pills are formed in mold dies. The filled dies move into a punch press, where tons of pressure compress the ingredients together. They are usually sprayed with a releasing agent similar to a non-stick cooking spray that aids in removal of the finished pill.

Coatings and Time Release

Pill and capsule development also includes finding the right coatings. The particular coatings used depend on the desired result. Sometimes, pill ingredients are so bad tasting that a flavored coating is called for. Or, it may be meant to make the pill easier to swallow.

Some coatings help control the time it takes for the tablet to dissolve in the stomach. In addition, time-release capsules are made with what in essence is a variety of micro-pills with slightly differing formulas which allow for differing dissolve times.

Packaging and Quality Control

Typically, pills aren't touched by humans after the ingredients are dumped into encapsulating or tablet machines. From there, they are generally carried on conveyer belts to packaging. The finished product is funneled into pill bottles, which are then stacked for shipping.

Of course, a nearly fully automated manufacturing process needs sufficient quality control to ensure the potency of the active ingredients is exactly what is being claimed by the manufacturer. Almost all countries have some level of regulatory role in the making of vitamins and pills. Consumers should acquaint themselves with the sourcing of their vitamins to verify its regulatory compliance.

The author has an immense knowledge on Manufacturing tablets. Know more about capsule development related info in his website.