Monday, May 2, 2011

Gummy Vitamins: Good Idea/Bad Idea

Good Idea: Gummy Multivitamins. I used to have a really hard time taking a multivitamin every day. Usually, they would be in pill or capsule form and I have a hard time swallowing a big pill even with a lot of water to help wash it down. The thing would always feel stuck in my throat, and I'd have to eat something like a piece of bread or fruit just to get it down. The result would be me taking one every day in the morning for maybe about 4 days then forgetting and taking them sporadically, and then forgetting to take them all together.

However, I find that gummy vitamins are much easier to take. I bought a bottle of the store brand Up & Up gummy vitamins at Target a month ago, and I've been taking them ever since. I think what makes them most appealing is the taste. They taste just like regular fruit snacks or candy. I find the ones I bought were delicious and I've had a hard time eating only the daily recommended two per day. The Target ones come in berry, peach, and orange. Each serving gives you 50% or more of your daily requirements of Vitamins A, C, D, E, B-6, B-12, and Niacin.




Bad Idea: Gummy Omega-3 Vitamins. When I ran out of my first bottle of regular gummy vitamins, I went back to Target to buy some more. I saw that they were having a sale on Omega-3 gummies, and I remembered that my doctor recently suggested that I try to get more Omega-3s in my diet. It is sometimes difficult to do this, when you can't afford to buy a lot of salmon or other Omega-3 rich foods to eat on a daily basis. My friend had told me that she was taking fish oil capsules for a while as part of her diet, but they caused her to have fishy-smelling burps. This seemed rather gross, plus I knew that taking large capsules has proven to be a difficult task for me. So I figured that since the regular gummy multi-vitamin I had been taking was so deliciously successful, that adding another gummy vitamin to the routine would be an easy way to further supplement my diet.

I found these new gummy vitamins to be a huge let-down in terms of taste. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that they taste down right awful. Vita-fusion tried very hard to mask the taste of fishy Omega-3s, but they did so by replacing the fishy taste with a very moldy skunk taste and smell. One whiff after opening the jar let me know that these were not going to be as pleasant to ingest. When I tired eating them for the first time I nearly gagged from the odor. They are covered in granulated sour sugar, and taste okay for the first few seconds that they are in you mouth. But even while being careful not to breathe while chewing them, the awful skunk taste caught up to me. I had to "chase" them with cranberry juice just to get the taste out of my mouth. Yuck. But since I bought the bottle I decided to take them every day when I woke up. And despite the awful taste I have noticed that they have made my skin and hair softer.

So if you decide to take a gummy vitamin supplement remember that although a regular multivitamin can be delicious, be prepared for an unpleasant taste if you want to take one that contains Omega-3s.

8 comments:

  1. I agree with Sweet. Can't go wrong with those Flintstones vitamins! xD Thanks for the insight. Really good information here. :)

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  2. Well, huh. That's nice to know.
    I've never had to take vitamins... but still. Nice to know.

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  3. Good idea IMO thanks for the info

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  4. I used to use the Flintstones ones all the time haha

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  5. I've never tried these. Part of me thinks vitamins shouldnt be delicious. I might have a bottle of them and die.

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  6. Havn't had gummy ones since i was young!

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  7. Interesting why they used fish and not plant based DHA for this product, thanks for the advice I will be avoiding this for sure.

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