Do Gummy Vitamins Work? Here ’s What Experts Say

Gummy vitamins are increasingly popular—and not just for kids. By some estimates, adults now comprise up to 80% of the gummy vitamin market. “Pill fatigue” is one factor driving grownups toward gummies. If you have to take multiple supplements every day—and especially if you have problems swallowing capsules or tablets—gummies can make that chore easier (and tastier), finds a 2017 report from the AARP. But do gummy vitamins work the same as ordinary supplements? “It’s a lot harder to make a good gummy than it is to make a tablet or capsule,” says Dr. Tod Cooperman, president of ConsumerLab.com, a private company that conducts safety and quality testing of consumer products. In a 2017 supplement analysis, ConsumerLab.com found that four out of five gummy products contained more or less than their listed amounts of ingredients. Gummies were the most likely kind of supplement to fail testing, the analysis found. “Many companies seem to have trouble controlling the amounts of ingredients in each gummy,” Cooperman says. To solve this problem, he says some gummy makers spray vitamins and nutrients onto the outside of the finished candy—like a coating. But this can result in “stability problems,” meaning the gummies can lose potency over time. “This leads some manufacturers to put in a lot more of certain vitamins than labeled to ensure the product provides at least 100% of the labeled amounts throu...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Diet/Nutrition Source Type: news