A doctor has shared a caution for anyone who relies on gummy vitamin supplements.
Gummy vitamins can feel like an easy alternative for people who find tablets hard to swallow or dislike the aftertaste of standard supplements. Because many gummies are designed to taste like sweets, they can seem like a more appealing way to keep up with daily nutrients.
Although most vitamins and minerals are ideally obtained through a balanced diet, supplements may still be useful when someone has a confirmed deficiency or has been advised by a healthcare professional to top up a specific nutrient.
Gummy versions of popular supplements are now widely available, but Dr Amir Khan raised concerns about them while speaking on UK daytime programme Lorraine, explaining why some gummy products may come with downsides.
“With gummies – most supplements now come in gummy form, so whether it’s vitamin D, magnesium, creatine, they all come in gummy form and that is fine,” said Dr Khan.
“The thing about supplements is, if you need them, the best way to take them are the ways that you are going to take them regularly.
“And for gummies, because they taste like sweets, people will take them regularly and they will get their supplementation. So that’s alright. “
However, Dr Khan noted that the sweet-like nature of gummies can create risks, particularly when they contain significant amounts of sugar or sweeteners. If people treat them like confectionery rather than medicine, they may end up taking far more than intended.
He added: “But also because they taste so good people just go back and eat and eat and eat them so you can overdose on gummies.
“But the problem with the supplement industry as a whole is that it’s not regulated in the same way medicines are. So we don’t know exactly how much of everything is in these things and some studies have shown that actually they contain 10 or 12 times more than the recommended dose or some contain very little as well.
“So there’s no regulating that and that’s a problem.”
Elsewhere, Mayo Clinic has also advised consumers to be careful when selecting supplements, outlining steps people can take to make safer choices. They say it’s important to: