Mineral Oil.

Mineral oil is not digested or absorbed, so retinol partitions into the oil phase and stays in the gut lumen instead of entering mixed micelles. Taken in the same window it lowers how much vitamin A reaches circulation.

Cholecalciferol needs bile salt micelles to cross the intestinal wall, and it dissolves preferentially into mineral oil that the gut cannot take up. Co-dosing carries a share of the vitamin D straight through.

Tocopherols are highly lipophilic and distribute into the mineral oil phase rather than into absorbable micelles. The result is less tocopherol delivered when the two are taken together.

Phylloquinone depends on bile and micelle formation for uptake, and mineral oil holds it in the lumen. Because vitamin K supports normal clotting factor production, the timing matters for anyone relying on a steady intake.

Menaquinone-7 is absorbed with dietary fat through micelles, so a non-absorbable oil in the same meal captures part of the dose. Separating the two by several hours removes the overlap.

Carotenoids are among the most lipophilic dietary compounds and dissolve readily into mineral oil that the intestine cannot absorb. Less beta-carotene reaches the enterocyte for cleavage into retinal.

Lutein uptake depends on incorporation into mixed micelles with digestible fat. Mineral oil takes up the xanthophyll instead and carries it through unabsorbed.

Lycopene is a non-polar hydrocarbon carotenoid with strong affinity for any oil phase present. When that phase is mineral oil, the carotenoid is not delivered to the intestinal wall.

Ubiquinone is a large lipophilic quinone that relies on dietary fat and micelle formation for the limited absorption it gets. A mineral oil phase in the same dose competes for it and lowers delivery.

Astaxanthin is a lipophilic carotenoid that depends on mixed micelle formation to cross the intestinal wall. Non absorbed mineral oil in the gut lumen provides a competing oil phase that lipophilic compounds partition into and then leave with. The interaction is one of physical partitioning, not of chemistry, and it applies to oral mineral oil rather than to topical use.

Zeaxanthin behaves like the other xanthophyll carotenoids and requires dietary fat and bile for micellar uptake. Mineral oil taken orally is not digested or absorbed, so any zeaxanthin that dissolves into it passes through unabsorbed. Separating the doses in time is the usual formulation and dosing response.

Tocotrienols are the unsaturated side chain members of the vitamin E family and are absorbed by the same fat dependent route as tocopherols. A non absorbable oil phase in the lumen reduces the fraction that reaches the enterocyte. The same reasoning applies to any vitamin E form on a label.

Mixed tocopherol preparations are fully lipophilic and are taken up in mixed micelles alongside dietary fat. Oral mineral oil sequesters them in a phase the gut does not absorb. This is the same established interaction that applies to vitamins A, D and K.

Retinol and retinyl esters are absorbed with dietary fat after micellar solubilisation. Non absorbed mineral oil competes for those lipophilic molecules and carries them through. Preformed vitamin A and its provitamin carotenoid precursors are both affected.

Plant sterols are poorly absorbed to begin with and depend on micellar incorporation for the fraction that does cross. An unabsorbed oil phase reduces that fraction further. Both agents act inside the intestinal lumen, so the timing of the doses is what determines whether they meet.

Curcumin is highly lipophilic and already absorbs poorly, which is why so many formulations exist to improve it. A non absorbable oil in the same lumen offers a phase for it to dissolve into and leave with. Read this as a dosing separation point rather than a formulation pairing.

Ubiquinol is a large lipophilic quinol whose absorption depends on bile and dietary fat. Mineral oil taken by mouth provides a competing unabsorbed lipid phase. The same applies to the ubiquinone form.

Dietary long chain fatty acids are hydrolysed by lipase and taken up as free fatty acids and monoglycerides. Mineral oil is a mixture of saturated hydrocarbons with no ester bonds, so lipase does not act on it and it stays in the lumen. Its presence dilutes the lipid phase from which absorbable fatty acids are extracted.

EPA follows the same digestion and micellar uptake route as other long chain fatty acids. An unabsorbed hydrocarbon oil in the same compartment competes as a solvent phase. Separating oral mineral oil from a fish oil dose is the practical consequence.

MCT oil is a triglyceride that is hydrolysed and absorbed, with medium chain fatty acids passing largely into the portal circulation. Mineral oil is a hydrocarbon that is not hydrolysed at all. The two look alike on a label and behave in opposite ways in the gut, which is a distinction worth stating plainly.

Squalane and mineral oil are both used as occlusive emollients that slow water loss from the skin surface. In a topical base they are interchangeable in function and are sometimes combined to tune spreadability and feel. This is formulation practice on the skin, entirely separate from the oral absorption interaction.

Ceramides supply the lipid species that make up the skin barrier, while mineral oil sits on top as an occlusive film that reduces transepidermal water loss. The two work at different levels of the same barrier. Mineral oil does not integrate into the lamellar lipid structure the way ceramides do.

Both are used in the gut lumen to alter stool consistency, psyllium by holding water in a viscous gel and mineral oil by acting as a lubricant that resists absorption. Their effects add rather than overlap. Viscous fibre also slows the absorption of anything else taken at the same time, which compounds the mineral oil effect on fat soluble nutrients.

Phospholipids are the natural emulsifiers of the gut and are part of what forms mixed micelles with bile salts. Adding a phospholipid emulsifier changes how an oil phase disperses in the lumen. Mineral oil remains unabsorbed regardless, so what shifts is the partitioning of the other lipophilic compounds present.