Lifestyle

The Dirty Truth About Gummy Vitamins You Need to Know

By Caitlin Wolper at Spoon University

Gummy vitamins are a popular source of nutrition because they taste good, come in adorable shapes and provide you with much-needed vitamins. You can even make your own, if you really want. But these chewy vitamins are not actually as good for you as you think.

First off, you are probably eating more than the recommended number of gummies at once. When you wake up sick, you might think, “Oh, better take a bunch of vitamins to fight the sniffles.” After all, it’s hard to keep healthy at school, so shouldn’t more vitamins help?

No. Taking all those extra doses is not going to help at all – it’s actually going to hurt you. Vitamins are not candy, and taking too many will lead to an overdose.

Yes, you can overdose on vitamins. Whhhaaaattt. Basically, your body cannot consume all of the fat-soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E and K, that are in gummies, because these vitamins are not water-soluble. In other words, these vitamins cannot be flushed out when you go to the bathroom.

As a result, you might experience nausea, fatigue and muscle weakness. If you eat way too many, it can even shut down your organs. Woah.

Yeah, too much of anything is not good.

“But I want to make sure I’m staying healthy” you argue, “and vitamins are good for me.” But actually how healthy are these chewy vitamins? In an effort to preserve taste, gummy vitamins don’t contain as many vitamins, like thiamin, as their chewable tablet or pill counterparts.

But then you say, “Oh, but that can’t be true. How can they get away with this? Isn’t it regulated?”

Chew on this: The FDA does not regulate gummy vitamins. Let me repeat: the FDA does not regulate gummy vitamins.

So, companies can add whatever ingredients they want to gummy vitamins without having to undergo strict regulation processes – processes that would determine if these combinations and amounts were safe or not.

But let’s not forget about the sugar content, either. I mean, some gummy vitamins are covered in granulated sugar, so it’s not surprising that one serving of gummy vitamins equals 10% of a child’s daily sugar intake. One serving. 

Doesn’t sound so healthy now, does it? Most gummies are so sugary that doctors recommend you brush after eating them.

So sugary, in fact, that you might just get cavities… from trying to stay healthy. Sounds delicious.

All in all, gummy vitamins aren’t the worst for you – I’ll admit they do contain vitamins and they do cater to pill-haters – but they certainly aren’t the best. So, if you can swallow or chew a chalky pill, it’s much better for you than eating gummy vitamins. You’ll get more vitamins than the gummies offer, without any of the sugar. Win-win.

But if you must go the gummy route, make sure you remember that they’re not a free ticket to Healthy Town. Chew it with some kale.

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