But when it comes to comparing the gummies to old-schools tablets, how do they stack up? And how is it possible to make vitamins (especially fish oil — come on!) taste like candy? There are 13 vitamins the body needs to function properly: A, C, D, E, K, and the B-group vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, and folate). While most people get enough of each from their diet, people with special dietary needs may benefit from supplements. Additional calcium may be particularly helpful to strengthen bones in older women and vegans; folic acid is helpful for pregnant women or alcoholics; and vegetarians and vegans may benefit from supplemental vitamin B-12 (which is found mainly in meat and other animal products) . Your doctor or a registered dietitian is the best person to let you know whether you should be supplementing your intake of certain vitamins and minerals.Before you go popping just any pill, it’s important to know that the FDA doesn’t regulate vitamins.
Instead, third party agencies can give vitamins a stamp of approval. These include Consumerlab’s Approved Quality Product Seal, NSF’s International Dietary Supplement Certification, and U.S. Pharmacopeia’s (USP) Dietary Supplement Verification. Each verification is slightly different: The USP process, for example, verifies that the product actually contains the ingredients listed on the label, that one serving does not contain an unsafe amount of any ingredient, and that the company has followed the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practices. But while these verifications do exist, vitamin companies are not required to pass any of them. And more importantly, even if a company’s regular vitamins do have a certification, it doesn’t mean their other products (like, say, gummy vitamins) do.Between one third and one half of American adults are already taking some kind of supplement or multivitamin. Seems like we were getting those vitamins just fine before containers of adult gummies starting calling our names, right?
The people who take multivitamins are often the ones who need them the least — healthy adults who are already concerned with wellness and most likely reach their daily allotment of most vitamins and minerals just by eating a fairly nutritious diet. That’s why gummy vitamins may be a good idea: They appeal to a population who make be more reluctant to make “healthy choices,” such as college students whose diet is leaving them with nutrient levels below what is recommended For anyone, they certainly make taking your vitamins a lot more enjoyable — heck, they may even be something to look forward to!While there are countless brands of gummy vitamins at this point, we decided to compare one gummy multivitamin and one regular multivitamin each from two major brands — NatureMade and One A Day. We compared NatureMade’s Multi Gummy Vitamins and their Multi Complete Tablets and One A Day’s Multivitamin VitaCraves gummies and Essential tablets. NatureMade regularly gets certified by the USD, while One A Day does not recieve third party ceritification (though out of all their products, NatureMade's gummy vitamins are the only ones NOT certified).
In a side-by-side comparison, all four products contain similar values of vitamins C, D3, E, B6, and B12, as well as biotin (a b-complex vitamin that aids metabolism and has been shown to help regulate the glycemic index of diabetes patients and folic acid) . However, gummy vitamins leave out the vitamin K, niacin, thiamin, magnesium, selenium, copper, manganese, and chromium present in most multivitamin tablets. According to Greatist Expert and registered dietician Elizabeth Jarrard, these vitamins and minerals are only necessary in trace amounts, and we get most of those from food, so it’s not a huge deal. NatureMade’s website explains why they’re left out: Some nutrients are eliminated due to “unpleasant taste.” While most people will be just fine without them, people with Crohn’s disease or anorexia may be deficient in thiamin and need the extra dose, and niacin has also been shown to help lower high cholesterol . So if you have special dietary needs, gummy vitamins may not supply the whole package.
And what’s up with fish oil gummy vitamins? Not as gross as they may sound. While the chemical mastermind behind them managed to avoid a fishy tasting fruit snack (ew), these gummies supply only a fifth of the fish oil per serving and less than one tenth of the omega-3s as regular fish oil pills. The chewable version barely makes a dent in the recommended daily allotment of 1200mgs per day of omega-3s, with only 60mgs per two-gummy serving. Fish oil supplements have tons of science to back up their benefits: They can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer; of all the supplements, these probably aren't the ones to skimp on .While gummy vitamins can be a great solution for someone who can’t swallow pills or just wants to make their healthy choices more fun (we’re all for that!), it’s important to proceed with caution. The whole point of gummy vitamins is that they taste great, so why not just take ten? Hold on — that’s not a good idea. While some vitamins (B, C, and folic acid) are water-soluble, meaning the body easily absorbs them and the kidneys remove excess amounts, fat-soluble vitamins like A and D can build up in body and be toxic in large amounts.
In this case, popping those gummy vitamins like a kid on Halloween could result in uncomfortable symptoms like headaches, migraines, and constipation, says Jarrard.And speaking of ingredient lists, the first few components in gummy vitamins are different than those in tablets. The big difference is sugar. Ingredients like glucose, corn syrup, and sucrose are first on the tally, and while the two or three grams of sugar found in most gummy vitamins is a pretty small amount, the gummy texture makes it easier for bacteria to linger on teeth and cause decay. An easy fix for this is to brush your teeth right after chewing that daily vitamin.If you’re looking to go gummy but want a slightly healthier, more natural choice, one brand stood out to us: Smarty Pants gummy multivitamins contains only organic cane sugar, tapioca syrup, gelatin, pectin, citric acid, and natural flavors and colors. In addition, these gummies contain about double the amount of vitamin D and omega-3s when compared to the other brands we checked out.