Do Gummy Vitamins Taste Just Too Good To Be True?
According to the Institute of Medicine, we need to get 13 vitamins and 12 minerals from our diets. So to ensure we get the required amount, many of us pop a multivitamin supplement as an “insurance policy” to ensure we are meeting our daily requirements. So how many of you opt to take a tasty gummy vitamin over a chalky multi vitamin daily? And how many of you give your children a little gummy bear vitamin?
Lets face it they’re convenient, fun to eat, and filled with all the nutrients your body needs. Or are they? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the health benefits of gummy vitamins have long been over-glorified and unfortunately most gummy vitamin brands are missing too many essential nutrients.
Consumer Lab decided to set up a study to discover which nutrients are actually in some of the most popular brands of vitamins. They tested 37 brands of gummy multivitamins, and not one brand came even close to containing all the vitamins and minerals found in a good old fashioned multivitamin tablet.
ConsumerLab found that Centrum Multi-Gummies for Adults was missing 10 essential nutrients, while Nature Made Multi Adult Gummies and Vitafusion MultiVites each lacked 9 nutrients. Smarty Pants Adult Complete Multivitamin is unfortunately far from complete as the name suggests, it is actually missing B-1, B-3, K vitamins, iron, magnesium, copper, selenium, and chromium. Even worse, some brands contained too much folate or vitamin A and exceeded the daily limit standards set by the Institute of Medicine.
ConsumerLab suggested that the fact that gummies are more difficult to manufacture and the ingredients used tend to be of a low quality would explain the low vitamin and mineral content over a regular multi-vitamin tablet. However, that still does not excuse the fact that the products are mislabeled.
The takeaway message from ConsumerLab and its study is that if you are going to take a multivitamin take it in tablet form and ditch the gummies. This way you will ensure you are getting the correct balance of vitamins and you could save yourself from a few cavities too!