Gummy multivitamins are everywhere now, from adult formulas to prenatal and senior blends - but are they actually a good substitute for capsules or tablets? In this episode, I discuss clinical considerations, including quality control findings, sugar content, and formulation limits that affect dosing and nutrient stability.
In this episode, we cover:
When gummy multivitamins might be the best (or only) tolerable option for a client
Sugar and non-nutritive sweetener content to review before recommending
Why iron and higher-dose B vitamins may be missing from gummy formulations
Why gummy multis tend to have lower overall nutrient doses than capsules or tablets (which isn't necessarily a bad thing)
Consumer Lab quality findings: degradation issues, overages, and what they mean clinically
Upcoming Multivitamin Deep Dive class details
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction: answering questions about gummy multivitamins
01:00 - When gummies are a reasonable alternative (dysphagia, pregnancy aversions, palatability)
01:50 - Sugar, non-nutritive sweeteners, and blood sugar considerations
02:55 - Missing ingredients: why iron and higher-dose B vitamins rarely make the cut
04:10 - Lower nutrient density: how the gummy base limits room for active ingredients
05:00 - Consumer Lab findings on quality control, degradation, and nutrient overages
06:45 - Clinical bottom line: who gummies work for and when to supplement separately
07:50 - Other ingredients to review: dyes, excipients, and lower-quality fillers
08:30 - Multivitamin Deep Dive class invitation: July 13th, 5:00 - 6:30 PM Eastern
Links Mentioned:
Multivitamin Deep Dive class (July 13th, 2026 from 5-6:30 pm; 1.5 NPCE available through Dec 2028)
All-Access 2026 Supplement Deep Dive Pass
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Camille's Helpful Links for Practitioners
WEBVTT
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Hi there! Welcome to In the Clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman.
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I'm an herbalist and nutritionist, and in this podcast, I share tips,
00:00:06.907 --> 00:00:09.879
tidbits, and resources that might be helpful for other practitioners.
00:00:10.578 --> 00:00:14.276
Today, I wanted to answer a question about gummy multivitamins.
00:00:14.816 --> 00:00:19.557
I get a lot of questions about these, whether they are equally as effective
00:00:19.557 --> 00:00:23.088
as taking a regular multivitamin that's a tablet or a capsule,
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whether there are any downsides to know about, and so forth.
00:00:28.572 --> 00:00:33.471
They used to be that the gummies were primarily for kids. They were pediatric formulations.
00:00:33.738 --> 00:00:40.007
But recently, over the last, say, 5 to 10 years, we've seen adult gummy multivitamins
00:00:40.007 --> 00:00:44.503
on the market to include products for preconception, pregnancy,
00:00:44.985 --> 00:00:48.897
older adults, standard multivitamin for regular consumption, etc.
00:00:49.257 --> 00:00:52.409
These are all available in gummy format with lots of different brands.
00:00:52.659 --> 00:00:57.587
So I get questions all the time about whether these are a reasonable substitute for a multivitamin.
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Here's a couple of things to think about. First of all, they do taste really good.
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They taste like candy, which can be a good thing, especially if some people
00:01:07.663 --> 00:01:11.833
have challenges taking supplements. There are people who have dysphagia.
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They may have trouble swallowing capsules or tablets for various reasons in pregnancy.
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There are folks who have aversions to the smell of multivitamins that is not
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as potent in the gummy format and so forth.
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So if somebody needs or wants to be taking a multivitamin, and for whatever
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reason a capsule or a tablet is not palatable to them or it's not feasible given
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their particular situation, a gummy can be a reasonable alternative.
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There are some things to know about. First of all, as probably doesn't surprise
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you given that I just told you these taste like candy, there is the fact that
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a lot of these do have a reasonable amount of sugar in them.
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Sometimes they have sugar substitute, non-nutritive sweeteners,
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things like that, but you do want to look at the label and just check that out.
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If a client has any kind of blood sugar regulatory issues, you want to be aware of what's in there.
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And some people, of course, react in a negative way to non-nutritive sweeteners,
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alcohol sweeteners, you know, alcohol-based sweeteners, that sort of thing.
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So if somebody is sensitive to those, just be aware of it. It's usually not
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a huge dose, but depending on the number of gummies that are in a dose,
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sometimes I've seen up to six or even eight gummies as a dose.
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So that can be a pretty reasonable hit of sugar or non-nutritive sweetener and
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enough to disrupt somebody if they are sensitive to those things.
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However, it's not always a problem. And there are cases where sometimes we're
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just like, you know what, it's just, that's what's going to happen. It's this or nothing.
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So sometimes we can just make that choice.
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Now, the other thing to know about the gummies based on the flavor is that you
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can't really put things in there that don't taste good.
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So, for example, iron does not taste good at all. You will find that most of
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these gummies don't have iron, or if they do have it, it's just a very, very small amount.
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Part of that is due to the risk of pediatric overdose as well.
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If you leave these unattended and kids get into them, like I said,
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they do taste like candy.
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They might eat a half a bottle the whole bottle if they're just if nobody's
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watching over them and that can be a problem but in particular with iron so,
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a lot of them just don't have iron for for the taste reason and in order to
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protect any kind of small kiddo who might happen to get into these they do usually
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have child safe tops and things like that as well but still important to know
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we want to keep these gummy vitamins
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out of reach of any kiddos especially the little bitties,
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Similarly, like I said, the iron doesn't taste good. You're not going to find that in there.
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Sometimes higher doses of the B vitamins you will not find in there.
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They start to get a little bit weird tasting as well.
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So if you are looking for a product that has iron, if iron is a major factor,
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if this is somebody who's menstruating, if they are pregnant,
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if they happen to have low ferritin, whatever, this may not be your best choice,
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or you might need to separate the iron out.
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In some cases, that's what you wanted to do in the first place.
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Also, because of just the formulation needed to create a gummy multi,
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a lot of the product is actually just what goes into making it a gummy.
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So you don't have as much room to put all your nutrients in there.
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So you will find that in general, the gummies tend to have a lower dose of most
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of the vitamins and minerals than you will find in a similarly sized capsule or tablet.
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So that's something to know. I actually don't think that's always the worst thing.
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I actually have more of a concern with products that have super high doses of
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some of these vitamins and minerals, but.
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Anyway, it is something to be aware of if you are looking for a substantial
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dose of a particular substance.
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The gummy may or may not be the best place to get that.
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Okay, so have a look at the dose and see what's in there.
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Now, another consideration is that the gummies sometimes have some quality issues.
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If you look at the latest from Consumer Lab, I'm recording this in 2026.
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So in the future, I don't know what will come out.
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But if you look at the latest in Consumer Lab, they have found that the gummy
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multivitamins are the least likely of all types of multivitamins to have the
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quantities that they say on the label in the product.
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And usually it is an overage versus an underage. And the reason for that appears
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to be, I'm not an expert in supplement manufacturing, but I'm reporting what
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I have read in Consumer Lab and elsewhere.
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The reason for this overage seems to be that because of the gummy.
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Formulation, the water-soluble nutrients tend to degrade more quickly in the
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gummy product than they might in a standard capsule or tablet format.
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And so what the manufacturers try to do is just put in a bunch more with the
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assumption that it's going to degrade over time, and hopefully by the time the
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consumer gets to the end of that bottle, they'll be getting about the amount that says in the bottle.
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So in a lot of cases, the water-soluble nutrients is not a huge deal if they are slightly over.
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Many of those, we are going to be able to metabolize and excrete pretty easily.
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However, especially if these higher doses are combined with other products,
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if people are taking energy drinks that also have B vitamins,
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or if they are taking some kind of other supplement, a
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cognitive supplement, or anything else that has some of the same overlapping
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substances, you really can start to get into a concerning territory,
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and of course in pediatrics or people in delicate health,
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that sort of thing, we want to be really careful of that. So that is something to know.
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Just to be aware of. That being said, I still, especially when I have clients,
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as you know, probably I work with a lot of people in fertility,
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preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, and there are absolutely people who are
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in those categories where.
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They do need to be taking at least some key nutrients to include folic acid, choline, etc.,
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and they just cannot do a regular multivitamin.
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I think a gummy or a liquid, we're not getting into that today,
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but those two things are reasonable and most people find the gummies more tolerable than a liquid.
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So I think there is something to be said. If somebody really does want or their
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situation indicates that they ought to be thinking about taking a multivitamin,
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and the way they're most likely to do that on a regular basis is to do the gummies,
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it may be reasonable to work that in.
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If you are really wanting specific quantities of an individual nutrient,
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you may need to supplement elsewhere.
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You may need to go with a different kind of multi, or you may need to supplement
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that individual nutrient on top of the gummy, depending on what's in the gummy and so forth.
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But I think a gummy can be a reasonable option. I'm not automatically anti-gummies.
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We do want to, of course, check for other ingredients. Some of them are lower quality.
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They may have some food dyes in them. They may have some excipients or other
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types of things that are suboptimal for some clients. But generally speaking,
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I think they are worth consideration in certain.
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Situations. Okay, so I hope that was helpful.
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I will put a link to the Consumer Labs study. It is a paid thing,
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but you can at least read the summary of it if you don't have a subscription to Consumer Labs.
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So I'll put a link to that in the show notes. I also, the reason I'm talking
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to you about this and the reason it's on my mind is that I am preparing for
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a supplement deep dive class on multivitamins, which is going to be next Monday.
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If you're listening to this in real time, next Monday is July 13th, 2026.
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We're going to be talking about multivitamins from 5 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. Eastern.
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This is going to be a deep dive.
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We're going to be covering all sorts of things, including, you know,
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what do we look for in quality? What are the different types of multivitamins?
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How should we go about picking them?
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What are the safety things we need to be aware of? And so on and so forth.
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So if you're interested in diving into even more info about multivitamins,
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when do I think they make sense, when are they probably just a waste of money,
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how do we work with people who really want or don't want to be taking them,
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and so forth, you can come join us for this class.
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There is 1.5 CEU credits available for people who need those.
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I'll put the show, the notes, the link to that in the show notes as well.
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Love to have you join us, and if you'd rather sign up for the whole supplement
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deep dive, you can save some money and get all 10 of our supplement CEU classes
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throughout the year and enjoy those at your leisure because you have access to the recording.
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So even if you're listening to this after the live class, you are welcome to
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sign up after the fact and get the recording and go from there.
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All right. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you being here.
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I appreciate all the work that you do on behalf of your clients.
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And if you have a question you'd like me to answer, feel free to contact me
00:10:00.850 --> 00:10:06.115
at intheclinic.com. I would love to hear it and love to answer it for you. Great. Have a great day.
00:00:00.759 --> 00:00:04.017
Hi there! Welcome to In the Clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman.
00:00:04.017 --> 00:00:06.907
I'm an herbalist and nutritionist, and in this podcast, I share tips,
00:00:06.907 --> 00:00:09.879
tidbits, and resources that might be helpful for other practitioners.
00:00:10.578 --> 00:00:14.276
Today, I wanted to answer a question about gummy multivitamins.
00:00:14.816 --> 00:00:19.557
I get a lot of questions about these, whether they are equally as effective
00:00:19.557 --> 00:00:23.088
as taking a regular multivitamin that's a tablet or a capsule,
00:00:23.396 --> 00:00:27.912
whether there are any downsides to know about, and so forth.
00:00:28.572 --> 00:00:33.471
They used to be that the gummies were primarily for kids. They were pediatric formulations.
00:00:33.738 --> 00:00:40.007
But recently, over the last, say, 5 to 10 years, we've seen adult gummy multivitamins
00:00:40.007 --> 00:00:44.503
on the market to include products for preconception, pregnancy,
00:00:44.985 --> 00:00:48.897
older adults, standard multivitamin for regular consumption, etc.
00:00:49.257 --> 00:00:52.409
These are all available in gummy format with lots of different brands.
00:00:52.659 --> 00:00:57.587
So I get questions all the time about whether these are a reasonable substitute for a multivitamin.
00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:03.033
Here's a couple of things to think about. First of all, they do taste really good.
00:01:03.033 --> 00:01:07.663
They taste like candy, which can be a good thing, especially if some people
00:01:07.663 --> 00:01:11.833
have challenges taking supplements. There are people who have dysphagia.
00:01:11.833 --> 00:01:16.821
They may have trouble swallowing capsules or tablets for various reasons in pregnancy.
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There are folks who have aversions to the smell of multivitamins that is not
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as potent in the gummy format and so forth.
00:01:25.313 --> 00:01:29.843
So if somebody needs or wants to be taking a multivitamin, and for whatever
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reason a capsule or a tablet is not palatable to them or it's not feasible given
00:01:35.123 --> 00:01:39.844
their particular situation, a gummy can be a reasonable alternative.
00:01:40.531 --> 00:01:44.693
There are some things to know about. First of all, as probably doesn't surprise
00:01:44.693 --> 00:01:48.803
you given that I just told you these taste like candy, there is the fact that
00:01:48.803 --> 00:01:52.345
a lot of these do have a reasonable amount of sugar in them.
00:01:52.548 --> 00:01:55.153
Sometimes they have sugar substitute, non-nutritive sweeteners,
00:01:55.153 --> 00:01:58.353
things like that, but you do want to look at the label and just check that out.
00:01:58.353 --> 00:02:04.256
If a client has any kind of blood sugar regulatory issues, you want to be aware of what's in there.
00:02:04.633 --> 00:02:09.763
And some people, of course, react in a negative way to non-nutritive sweeteners,
00:02:09.763 --> 00:02:12.261
alcohol sweeteners, you know, alcohol-based sweeteners, that sort of thing.
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So if somebody is sensitive to those, just be aware of it. It's usually not
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a huge dose, but depending on the number of gummies that are in a dose,
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sometimes I've seen up to six or even eight gummies as a dose.
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So that can be a pretty reasonable hit of sugar or non-nutritive sweetener and
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enough to disrupt somebody if they are sensitive to those things.
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However, it's not always a problem. And there are cases where sometimes we're
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just like, you know what, it's just, that's what's going to happen. It's this or nothing.
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So sometimes we can just make that choice.
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Now, the other thing to know about the gummies based on the flavor is that you
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can't really put things in there that don't taste good.
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So, for example, iron does not taste good at all. You will find that most of
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these gummies don't have iron, or if they do have it, it's just a very, very small amount.
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Part of that is due to the risk of pediatric overdose as well.
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If you leave these unattended and kids get into them, like I said,
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they do taste like candy.
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They might eat a half a bottle the whole bottle if they're just if nobody's
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watching over them and that can be a problem but in particular with iron so,
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a lot of them just don't have iron for for the taste reason and in order to
00:03:24.588 --> 00:03:29.458
protect any kind of small kiddo who might happen to get into these they do usually
00:03:29.458 --> 00:03:33.531
have child safe tops and things like that as well but still important to know
00:03:33.804 --> 00:03:35.238
we want to keep these gummy vitamins
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out of reach of any kiddos especially the little bitties,
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Similarly, like I said, the iron doesn't taste good. You're not going to find that in there.
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Sometimes higher doses of the B vitamins you will not find in there.
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They start to get a little bit weird tasting as well.
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So if you are looking for a product that has iron, if iron is a major factor,
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if this is somebody who's menstruating, if they are pregnant,
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if they happen to have low ferritin, whatever, this may not be your best choice,
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or you might need to separate the iron out.
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In some cases, that's what you wanted to do in the first place.
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Also, because of just the formulation needed to create a gummy multi,
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a lot of the product is actually just what goes into making it a gummy.
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So you don't have as much room to put all your nutrients in there.
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So you will find that in general, the gummies tend to have a lower dose of most
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of the vitamins and minerals than you will find in a similarly sized capsule or tablet.
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So that's something to know. I actually don't think that's always the worst thing.
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I actually have more of a concern with products that have super high doses of
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some of these vitamins and minerals, but.
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Anyway, it is something to be aware of if you are looking for a substantial
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dose of a particular substance.
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The gummy may or may not be the best place to get that.
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Okay, so have a look at the dose and see what's in there.
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Now, another consideration is that the gummies sometimes have some quality issues.
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If you look at the latest from Consumer Lab, I'm recording this in 2026.
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So in the future, I don't know what will come out.
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But if you look at the latest in Consumer Lab, they have found that the gummy
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multivitamins are the least likely of all types of multivitamins to have the
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quantities that they say on the label in the product.
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And usually it is an overage versus an underage. And the reason for that appears
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to be, I'm not an expert in supplement manufacturing, but I'm reporting what
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I have read in Consumer Lab and elsewhere.
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The reason for this overage seems to be that because of the gummy.
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Formulation, the water-soluble nutrients tend to degrade more quickly in the
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gummy product than they might in a standard capsule or tablet format.
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And so what the manufacturers try to do is just put in a bunch more with the
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assumption that it's going to degrade over time, and hopefully by the time the
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consumer gets to the end of that bottle, they'll be getting about the amount that says in the bottle.
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So in a lot of cases, the water-soluble nutrients is not a huge deal if they are slightly over.
00:06:09.057 --> 00:06:12.929
Many of those, we are going to be able to metabolize and excrete pretty easily.
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However, especially if these higher doses are combined with other products,
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if people are taking energy drinks that also have B vitamins,
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or if they are taking some kind of other supplement, a
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cognitive supplement, or anything else that has some of the same overlapping
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substances, you really can start to get into a concerning territory,
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and of course in pediatrics or people in delicate health,
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that sort of thing, we want to be really careful of that. So that is something to know.
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Just to be aware of. That being said, I still, especially when I have clients,
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as you know, probably I work with a lot of people in fertility,
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preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, and there are absolutely people who are
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in those categories where.
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They do need to be taking at least some key nutrients to include folic acid, choline, etc.,
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and they just cannot do a regular multivitamin.
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I think a gummy or a liquid, we're not getting into that today,
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but those two things are reasonable and most people find the gummies more tolerable than a liquid.
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So I think there is something to be said. If somebody really does want or their
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situation indicates that they ought to be thinking about taking a multivitamin,
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and the way they're most likely to do that on a regular basis is to do the gummies,
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it may be reasonable to work that in.
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If you are really wanting specific quantities of an individual nutrient,
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you may need to supplement elsewhere.
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You may need to go with a different kind of multi, or you may need to supplement
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that individual nutrient on top of the gummy, depending on what's in the gummy and so forth.
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But I think a gummy can be a reasonable option. I'm not automatically anti-gummies.
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We do want to, of course, check for other ingredients. Some of them are lower quality.
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They may have some food dyes in them. They may have some excipients or other
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types of things that are suboptimal for some clients. But generally speaking,
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I think they are worth consideration in certain.
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Situations. Okay, so I hope that was helpful.
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I will put a link to the Consumer Labs study. It is a paid thing,
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but you can at least read the summary of it if you don't have a subscription to Consumer Labs.
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So I'll put a link to that in the show notes. I also, the reason I'm talking
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to you about this and the reason it's on my mind is that I am preparing for
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a supplement deep dive class on multivitamins, which is going to be next Monday.
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If you're listening to this in real time, next Monday is July 13th, 2026.
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We're going to be talking about multivitamins from 5 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. Eastern.
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This is going to be a deep dive.
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We're going to be covering all sorts of things, including, you know,
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what do we look for in quality? What are the different types of multivitamins?
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How should we go about picking them?
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What are the safety things we need to be aware of? And so on and so forth.
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So if you're interested in diving into even more info about multivitamins,
00:09:09.370 --> 00:09:13.331
when do I think they make sense, when are they probably just a waste of money,
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how do we work with people who really want or don't want to be taking them,
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and so forth, you can come join us for this class.
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There is 1.5 CEU credits available for people who need those.
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I'll put the show, the notes, the link to that in the show notes as well.
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Love to have you join us, and if you'd rather sign up for the whole supplement
00:09:30.970 --> 00:09:36.444
deep dive, you can save some money and get all 10 of our supplement CEU classes
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throughout the year and enjoy those at your leisure because you have access to the recording.
00:09:41.899 --> 00:09:45.520
So even if you're listening to this after the live class, you are welcome to
00:09:45.520 --> 00:09:50.260
sign up after the fact and get the recording and go from there.
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All right. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you being here.
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I appreciate all the work that you do on behalf of your clients.
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And if you have a question you'd like me to answer, feel free to contact me
00:10:00.850 --> 00:10:06.115
at intheclinic.com. I would love to hear it and love to answer it for you. Great. Have a great day.