Sprays vs Pills, in Plain Words

The problem

Pills are harder to take than people admit

• 37%said tablets and capsules were hard to swallowa German survey of 1,051 patients in 11 general practices
• 70%of them had not been spotted by their doctorsame German study
• 42%reported difficulty in a 2026 survey446 outpatients in Malaysia; about a third of those said they had skipped doses because of it

Surveys ask the question in different ways, so the numbers vary from study to study. But the pattern is the same: swallowing pills is a common, quiet problem, and it gets in the way of taking them at all.

The research

Does a spray actually work?

For vitamin D, this has been tested head to head. Researchers have compared vitamin D3 sprays with capsules, tablets and drops in at least seven randomised trials, in adults and in children. Across them, the spray raised blood vitamin D (measured as 25-hydroxyvitamin D) at least as well as the other forms.

• Healthy adults, Northern Ireland: 22 people took the same daily dose as a spray and as a capsule, four weeks each. Both raised vitamin D by a similar amount.
• Healthy adults, Slovenia: 105 people took a capsule, an oil-based spray or a water-based spray for eight weeks. All three worked about the same.
• Children who struggle with pills, Italy: spray and drops worked equally well, and satisfaction was higher with the spray.
• People with inflammatory bowel disease, Czech Republic: 120 patients. A buccal spray (sprayed inside the cheek) reached the same rise as conventional oil drops at about half the daily dose.

For vitamin B12, under-the-tongue works. A 2025 analysis of 16 studies (6,098 people) found that B12 taken under the tongue raised B12 levels as well as tablets swallowed whole, and as well as injections.

Read it carefully

What this does not mean

"At least as well" is the honest summary. One small trial from 2015 found a spray raised vitamin D about twice as much as a capsule, but later trials in healthy people found the two about equal. A 2020 review concluded a spray is not clearly superior. You may see claims online that sprays are absorbed "60 to 90%" versus "10 to 30%" for tablets: we could not find a study behind those figures.

Nobody has measured how much is absorbed through the mouth itself. Part of a spray is likely swallowed. What the trials show is the end result in the blood.

Vitamin K2 has been studied mostly in capsules and food. Spray studies for K2 have not been published yet.

These trials measured blood levels, not health outcomes.

What you can do

Reading a spray label

• Dose per spray. Check how much each spray delivers and how many sprays the daily amount takes.
• The form. Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol); for K2, look for MK-7, ideally "all-trans".
• The base. Vitamin D and K2 dissolve in fat, so most good sprays use an oil or a fine oil emulsion.
• What isn't inside. Look for no artificial sweeteners and as few preservatives as possible.
• How long a bottle lasts. Divide the sprays in the bottle by the sprays per day.

Our approach: Evmara's supplement range will include sprays, alongside capsules and liquids, so you can choose the form you will actually take. As with every Evmara supplement, we will show where each ingredient comes from and where it is made.

Taking a blood thinner? Vitamin K affects blood clotting. Speak to your doctor before taking any vitamin K supplement.