Nutritional shortcuts: fake or phenomenon? Part 2

Key Takeaways

• Gummy vitamins may be easier to consume and taste better than traditional vitamins, but the cons tend to outweigh the pros.
• Instability, compound safety concerns, added sugar, and over-consumption risk all decrease the benefits of gummy vitamins.

In part one of this series, we talked about the super-hyped powdered greens that are saturating the market these days.

For this part, we’re going to answer another popular question: are gummy vitamins a good replacement for traditional vitamins?

Gummy vitamins aren’t necessarily a one-to-one replacement for your traditional vitamins, but there are pros and cons to taking them.

Pros

If you can’t swallow pills, gummy vitamins can be a good option because they’re easier to chew and swallow.

Another point is that they’re tasty! We may be more compliant with taking our vitamins because they actually taste good, and they’re not large pills we have to swallow.

Con #1: Instability

There are a lot of drawbacks to gummy vitamins, too, so you must take those into consideration.

Many ingredients in gummy vitamins aren’t quite as stable and will start to deteriorate and become less effective over time. Sometimes manufacturers will put more vitamins and minerals into those gummy vitamins knowing this is going to happen.

This puts you at risk for getting either too little or too much of what is contained in them, leading to inconsistent dosing.

Con #2: Not all compounds can be put into a gummy form

Not all compounds are good to put in gummy form. They may change the taste or the texture of the end product. For this reason, manufacturers may not put certain compounds into their gummy vitamin. Be sure to read labels carefully to make sure the gummy actually contains the vitamins or minerals you are looking for.

Con #3: Added sugar content

Gummy vitamins are often high in added sugar — anywhere from two-to-eight grams of added sugar per serving.

Eight grams of added sugar is equivalent to two full teaspoons of sugar. This contributes a significant amount of added sugar to our daily diet.

Gummy vitamins are also very sticky. Combining added sugar with that sticky texture sets up a perfect storm for cavities, which your dentist likely won’t appreciate!

Making sure to properly brush and floss your teeth is very important when you’re taking gummy vitamins or eating any sticky, sweet food to help decrease your risk of cavities.

Con #4: Over consumption

Again, gummy vitamins taste good, and, unfortunately, people can be apt to overconsume them like candy.

If you have small children in your home, you need to keep gummy vitamins out of their reach because they look like candy and overconsuming them can cause potential overdose.

So, when you’re trying to decide between gummy vitamins and traditional vitamins, always weigh the risks versus the benefits.