Can whole food vitamins be taken without food?

While this is often mentioned by some "whole food like" vitamin companies to increase the image of their vitamins as whole food, the truth is absorption would suffer compared to taking them with a meal. So, no, do not take them by themselves.

Here is the logic. Digestion of nutrients in food or supplements depends upon a number of processes and secretions happening in a sequential pattern from various triggers. Smelling and tasting food are triggers. Another is the motion of the jaw moving up and down, the chewing motion. These stimulate the production of gastric juices, acids and later enzymes, and prepares the pH of the stomach to get ready for nutrient breakdown. If you just shallow a pill, none of these triggers are activated and the digestive system is not ready to begin the breakdown process. There are also other triggers in the stomach, maybe from stomach motion itself, that act to prepare the small intestines by stimulating the production of bile in the pancreas for the digestion of fats, fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, & K, CoQ10, and oils from fish and from nuts, flowers, and seeds. Yes, some nutrients, already at a pre-digested state, can be taken on an empty stomach. SAM-e is very unstable and should be taken on an empty stomach, plus free amino acids are already pre-digested for assimilation too.

Fish oil and CoQ10 absorption are especially enhanced by other fats in the same meal. Oh, another thing, this generated image for most whole food vitamins is really another myth as well. See here.