Researchers at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania in the US, headed by professor of chemistry Joe Vinson, have put these ' food-form' vitamins to the test. From their findings, it looks as if the complex way food incorporates nutrients, which is what the food-form process mimics, allows the nutrients to be more easily released, transported and used. So the laboratory research is looking good. However, it isn' t as simple as that. While nutrients in food often perform better than isolated nutrients they don' t always. For example, folic acid in supplements is much more effective, mg for mg, than folic acid in food. We don' t yet know why.

What we also don' t yet have is evidence that these food-form supplements result in better clinical outcomes compared to equivalent amounts of nonfood-form supplements. Until we have the evidence that food-form nutrients are more effective in clinical applications, I will sit on the fence on this one.