Gummy vitamins have been a huge trend for a number of years now, especially in the beauty community with supplements like biotin, which are supposed to help the hair, skin, and nails. Other gummy vitamins containing a general list of vitamins the human body needs to function are also gaining popularity. Some of these gummies are catered especially toward women and marketed as if they can improve the consumers’ health. But how much do these vitamins actually help?
Now I’m no nutrition expert, but I have taken gummy vitamins throughout my life. When I was younger, I took children’s calcium gummies for a while because I was never a fan of milk and my doctor told me I needed to be getting more calcium.
I got out of the habit of taking them as a teenager, but a few months ago, I picked up some more vitamins. I intended on just getting some biotin because my nails have always been very weak. I also wanted to pick up some melatonin because I have trouble falling asleep most nights. However, I got sucked into the mesmerizing gummy vitamin aisle. Could I really be healthier by simply eating a gummy? I thought, it couldn’t hurt so I might as well try. I ended up getting one of those general women’s multivitamin gummies because it also had biotin along with a number of other vitamins. The ones I got were by the brand Olly called “The Perfect Women’s Multi” from Target. I also got some “Sleep” gummies from the same brand.
After buying these, I investigated some of the science behind vitamin supplements. Some people make outrageous claims that vitamins can cure colds, prolong life, and even prevent cancer, but it turns out, they are all false. Having extra vitamins doesn’t actually do anything for your health, and your body just gets rid of them. In fact, you probably already get most of your daily vitamins from the food you eat. So these megadoses of vitamins are essentially useless and a waste of money.
I was pretty disappointed after my research, but I wasn’t going to waste my money, so I decided to put these gummies to the test. My total purchase was almost $30 for barely even two months’ worth of gummies. After taking these for about a month, I haven’t noticed a difference in my nails at all from the multivitamin, and I concluded that the sleep gummies were just overpriced melatonin based on the ingredients. On top of that, I actually have a cold as I’m writing this even though I rarely get sick, so obviously the vitamins didn’t help in that department.
I wouldn’t purchase these again, but I might try a biotin supplement with a higher percentage. My women’s multivitamins had 125% of the daily value of Biotin, but most supplements of strictly biotin contain 2000% of the daily value or even more. I don’t know if biotin is the answer to my problems (it probably isn’t), but if I take it again, it won’t be in gummy form. Other supplement forms, like pills, are so much cheaper and don’t contain added sugar.
Maybe the science behind these vitamins is a little wishy-washy, or maybe they are actually helpful. It really depends on your personal diet and what you are lacking. What I’ve concluded is that not all gummy vitamins are created equally. Some contain pointless vitamins in dramatically high dosages that your body doesn’t need or use. However, others may contain a reasonable amount of one vitamin that you are specifically lacking.
If you are going to invest in some gummy vitamins, be purposeful. Pick a vitamin that you may not be getting a lot of based off of your diet, or one that you know you have a deficiency in and ask your doctor if you actually need them. So maybe it was a good idea to take those calcium supplements when I was younger after all, but I’d pass on the multivitamins.