While gummy vitamins may be a tasty, convenient way to get your daily dose of vitamins, nutrients from food is still the way to go, says Becky Kerkenbush, a clinical dietitian at Watertown Regional Medical Center.
"Over half of Americans take some type of supplement every day," she said. "Multivitamin supplements are certainly one of the more popular choices — the gummy version began being marketed towards children, but now it's certainly been increased for adults."
With kids’ picky palates and aversion to swallowing pills, gummy vitamins were marketed as a solution to parents worried about nutritional deficiency that those same picky eating habits might have caused in the first place.
And then adults noticed, Kerkenbush said. With many adults experiencing what Kerkenbush calls "pill fatigue," feeling like you’re taking too many medications, gummy vitamins offer an appealing alternative.
"But now adults are finding that they are enjoying these, too," she said. "They're easy to take, they taste good and they're very convenient."
In 2016, gummy vitamin sales brought in $1 billion in a $41 billion supplement industry, more than a 25-percent increase from 2015, according to research company IBISWorld.
Yet along with that good taste comes a higher sugar content, Kerkenbush said. On average, gummy vitamins have about 1 to 3 grams of sugar each, but some brands can reach up to 8 grams of sugar.
"If you're consuming it in the recommended amount, that's not a big amount of sugar to take in," she said. "But you do have to realize that it's better to take that and then brush your teeth and floss because you still have the risk for tooth decay, bacteria growth and plaque."
Kerkenbush also cautions that because of the taste, kids can view them as candy, and overconsumption can be toxic. She recommends storing them in an area out of reach of children.
Gummy vitamins also come at a cost. To make space for the flavor and appearance, the vitamin dosage drops.
To get 500 milligrams of calcium from Nature Made Adult Gummies, you need to take two gummies at a cost of about $12 for 80 gummies. To get the same dosage from traditional tablets, only one tablet is necessary, at about $10 for 130 tablets.
While Kerkenbush acknowledges there are definite positives for using gummy vitamins outside of taste — those who have difficulty swallowing pills and they can be more quickly absorbed because you chew them — she would always advocate for getting your complete nutrition through food first.
"Fruits and vegetables will have a lot of the vitamins and minerals that people seem to supplement with a multivitamin," she said. "Most Americans just don't eat enough fruits and vegetables ... so that's why they seem to be lacking in those nutrients."
If you are low on nutrients, Kerkenbush recommends incorporating more whole foods into what you already eat, such as adding a handful of berries to your cereal in the morning or a side salad at lunch.
"I try to encourage people to look at ... your diet as a whole and not just be siloed with one particular food or food group because if you start excluding those, it can build up and then you're going be missing out on certain nutrients," she said. "I always say food first and then if we need supplements, we can certainly do that."