I've Spent Hundreds on Supplements That Did Nothing, Here's What I Learned

August 9, 2026

If you've got a cupboard full of half-used supplement bottles, you're not alone. Here's what years of trying, and mostly failing, actually taught me about why some vitamins never seem to work.

The supplement graveyard

Most people who've tried supplements for any length of time have some version of this: a shelf of bottles bought with good intentions, taken for a few weeks, and then quietly forgotten. Magnesium. Collagen. A multivitamin someone recommended. Each one felt like it should work. Most of them didn't seem to do anything at all.

After enough rounds of this, it's easy to assume the whole category is a scam, or that your body just doesn't respond to supplements the way other people's do.

What was actually going wrong

The ingredients in most of those supplements were probably fine. The issue was more likely the format. Standard capsules and tablets have to survive digestion before any nutrients reach your bloodstream, and how much reaches your bloodstream depends on the nutrient, its form, the dose and the format.

This is a bioavailability problem, not an ingredient problem. It explains why two people can take the same multivitamin and get completely different results, and why feeling nothing does not necessarily mean the nutrients weren't needed.

What changed

Switching to a liposomal liquid was the first time a supplement routine actually stuck for me. Liposomal delivery wraps nutrients in a lipid layer that helps them pass through the gut wall more efficiently, rather than relying on the capsule surviving digestion intact.

In clinical testing, this delivery method has shown up to 5x better absorption than a standard capsule. Absorble uses this approach in a liquid, mango-flavoured multivitamin, taken as a single daily measure rather than a handful of pills. That became the Daily Shot, and you can read how in how we formulated Absorble.

What actually changed day to day

Knowing exactly what was in each dose, and why
Actually remembering to take it, because the format was easy and pleasant rather than a chore
Fewer half-used bottles taking up cupboard space

If this sounds familiar

None of this means every supplement that's ever failed you was a waste. It's worth understanding what absorption actually means before writing off the whole category. We've gone into more depth on this in liposomal vitamins, explained, and on the specific signs your current supplement isn't absorbing in this piece.

Keep reading

Sources

This guide is for general information and is not medical advice. Food supplements should not replace a varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication or have a medical condition, speak to your GP or pharmacist before taking a new supplement.

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