What factors should you consider when choosing capsule sizes?

　　Determining the minimum size capsule needed to hold your formulation is just the starting point. After that, you should also consider the following when selecting capsule size for your product.

　　Swallowability – Once you know how big a capsule is needed you must consider if a capsule of this size would be difficult for the intended consumer to ingest. If the capsule size is likely to be difficult to swallow, it may be best to spread the dose over multiple smaller pills.

　　For example, most adults can easily swallow a size 0 capsule. Children and the elderly, however, often struggle to swallow a capsule this large.

　　Appearance – Sometimes there are reasons why you want to go to market with a larger capsule size than what your formulation calls for. In this case, you can use a colored capsule to hide the contents, so that consumers won’t think that they are not getting a full dose because their capsule is not completely full. Other times you may feel that smaller capsules will provide enhanced visual appeal. In this situation you may need to split your dose into two capsules.

　　Compliance – For greatest compliance you will generally want to market your supplement in the smallest capsule size possible with the fewest number of capsules per serving. To make this happen you may need to look closely at the formulation’s inactive ingredients. Can you reduce the volume of “filler” without compromising how well the product will run on your filling machines?