Are Gummy Multivitamins Good for Kids? An In-Depth Look
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Many parents givet heir children multivitamins to make sure they are getting proper nutrition and staying healthy during the most important developmental years of their lives.
Parents today are also now busier than ever, making it difficult to ensure children are eating well balanced meals throughout each day.
In addition, some kids simply do not eat a lot, or are very picky in what they eat, or even when they do eat fruits and vegetables, often gravitate to just one or two. As a result, many kids suffer from some type of nutrient deficiency. In fact, fewer than 1 in 10 children eat the proper amount of vegetables each day, and only 4 in 10 children eat the proper amount of fruit. With children not getting enough nutrients from their meals, many parents feel the need to turn to vitamins, which can be the next best option to ensure their children have good nutrition.
While vitamins are an excellent way for children to get proper nutrients, unfortunately, many children specific vitamins are nothing more than candy in disguise. While these multivitamins may contain important vitamins that kids lack from their diet, they also contain high amounts of added sugar and other processed ingredients that can lead to a variety of health problems like obesity, type 2 diabetes, modd issues and more. . As a result, the vitamins do not end up contributing to a child’s health in the way a parent would hope for.
As a result, parents need to pay attention to the labels on the multivitamins they buy for their children. Fortunately, there are quality kids vitamins made without processed sugar but still have a sweet natural flavor that kids love. Parents just need to be sure to do their due diligence on what ingredients their children are truly ingesting.
What Should You Look For In Multivitamins?
It is important that parents read the labels of the multivitamins they are buying for their children.
If you see the word “added sugar” or any words you cannot pronounce, it may not be the best choice of multivitamin. The best kids vitamin is made with organic fruits and veggies, including a natural sweetener like monk fruit.
When multivitamins contain processed ingredients and unnecessary fillers, it can set kids up for failure later in life.
Kids’ minds and bodies are extremely impressionable during this important developmental time. This means if kids are exposed to added sugar, preservatives, and dyes, every day, they are at a higher risk for health issues. Many people say sugar is this generation’s equivalent to smoking--we know how bad it is for us, yet many people cannot stay away from it.
When kids are exposed to sugar regularly as children, it makes them more prone to feel they need sugar later on in life.
Kids’ bodies grow and change seemingly infinitely during this developmental time. As a result, the habits that are set in place during childhood are the same ones that continue into adulthood.
If a child needs multivitamins to help ensure they are receiving all necessary nutrients, it is important that parents look for multivitamins that are made without added sugar or processed ingredients. Setting this habit now will help ensure your child carries positive habits into adulthood. In addition, avoiding processed sugar and other synthetic fillers often found in gummy vitamins can help your child to keep dental issues like cavities.
Do Kids Multivitamins Contain Lots of Sugar?
Many kids' multivitamins contain far too much sugar. Most kids' vitamins are the same as eating gummy candy. Unfortunately, because these gummy multivitamins also contain vitamins, they are allowed to be marketed as a health product for children. The average multivitamin gummy contains a teaspoon of sugar -- which is as much sugar as an Oreo cookie -- given each and every day to your child as a way to be healthy. Over time, this high sugar level paired with other unhealthy eating habits can lead to kids developing tooth decay and cavities, and even diabetes and obesity later on in life.
Kids can be difficult when it comes to getting them to take vitamins, or getting them to eat something they simply do not want to. As a result, most vitamin companies make their kids gummy multivitamins with a significant amount of sugar so children are happy to take them, and parents want to keep buying them. However, this excessive amount of sugar is unhealthy for kids and is nothing more than a marketing trap.
Fortunately, there are kids’ multivitamins that exist that do not come loaded with a significant amount of sugar and processed ingredients.
Cue Hiya Children’s Vitamins. Our vitamin has monk fruit instead of sugar to keep it sweet, while still delivering all the essential nutrients your kids need!
Are There Sugar Alternatives For Kids Multivitamins?
While all parents know sugar is not healthy for their children, many parents feel they are at a loss when trying to get their kids to take vitamins. Without any kind of sweetener, vitamins have a bitter and unpleasant taste that no child would tolerate. In addition, most kids cannot swallow pills.
As a result, parents feel stuck deciding whether it is better to allow their children to eat sugary gummy multivitamins or have their children go without vitamins, and thus, potentially without proper nutrition.
Fortunately, this is a conundrum parents do not have to suffer through. Hiya Vitamins exist to use sugar alternatives like monk fruit to create a pleasant taste for kids while still delivering the nutrients they need to grow strong and healthy!
One of the best sugar alternatives for kids multivitamins is monk fruit. It is a fruit found in Southeast Asia that has been used as a natural sweetener for years. While monk fruit contains some natural sugars such as fructose and glucose, its sweetness comes from its abundance of antioxidants. In addition, it has a glycemic index of zero, meaning it does not raise the body’s blood sugar levels after consumption.
Sugar alternatives can be difficult to find because not all of them are approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Fortunately, monk fruit was approved by the FDA as a sugar alternative in 2010, and has been growing in popularity every year since then.
Monk fruit is 100-250 times sweeter than normal sugar and is natural while still remaining zero calories! This makes it the perfect sugar alternative for kids’ multivitamins, which is why we use it in our vitamin! Hiya is sweetened with monk fruit to make children excited to take vitamins while giving parents peace of mind that the vitamin is truly safe and healthy for their children.
It is important for parents to look at the source of sugar in their kids gummy multivitamins. While most multivitamins made for children are loaded with artificial sweeteners, there are multivitamins that exist for kids that are sweetened with healthy sugar alternatives. The ingredients children ingest during this important developmental phase can have a large impact on what their future health will be as adults. It is important to get kids started on healthy living as early as possible!
How Do Kid and Adult Vitamins Differ?
Kids need different amounts of nutrients than adults do. In addition, many kids cannot swallow pills, or do not feel comfortable swallowing pills the way adults do.
As a result, kids' multivitamins tend to come in chewable gummy form, when in reality gummy vitamins are an awful delivery device for vitamins. In fact, according to one major study, 80% of gummy vitamins are known not to include what’s listed on the label itself. As a result, we always suggest parents avoid gummy vitamins entirely. Unfortunately, many companies pump their multivitamins full of sugar. The average gummy contains a teaspoon of added sugar. Yet unlike other vitamins, Hiya uses 0g of sugar in our vitamin!
Summary
Taste is important in kid vitamins. Sugar alternatives such as monk fruit can help these multivitamins taste good, while still ensuring they remain healthy. One of the primary differences between adult and kid vitamins is that taste is significantly more important in kid vitamins than it is in adult vitamins.
Fortunately, there are sugar alternatives that make kids gummy multivitamins healthy and tasty, so check out Hiya today and see what sweet, simple, and nutritious looks like!
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/about-nutrition/why-it-matters.html
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322769
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/monk-fruit-sweetener#what-it-is
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