4 Tips to Select the Best Gummy Vitamins for Integrative & Functional Practice

Nearly 40% of consumers say they prefer gummies when taking dietary supplements, making it an important offering at an integrative and functional health practice.

However, not all gummies are created equal. 80% of gummy vitamins fail quality tests, according to ConsumerLab researchers.¹ 

In integrative and functional health practices, the movement toward gummy vitamins has been met with uncertainty. While the convenience and taste are undeniable, gummy vitamins often contain unhealthy sweeteners, inferior ingredients, and don’t meet label claims. Gummy vitamins can only be fully adopted by integrative and functional practices if they hold up to the standards of other high-quality nutritional supplements used in the industry: exceptional ingredients, clinically useful dosages, and the absence of unwanted substances such as sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, or genetically modified ingredients.  

In this blog post, we’ll explore the challenges with manufacturing gummies and give four guidelines to help integrative and functional practitioners choose the best quality gummy vitamins for use in practice. With our convenient Shopping List for Gummies, you will be able to educate your clients about what to look for when shopping for a high-quality gummy vitamin and what to avoid.  

We will explore: 

• Sweeteners to avoid versus the best low-calorie sweeteners for gummies
• Quality concerns with gummy vitamins and third-party testing
• How to increase the shelf life of gummies
• Choosing a manufacturer experienced with bioactive nutritional ingredients 
• Who can benefit the most from gummies
• DaVinci’s premium vitamin D3 K2 gummies with vitamin A 

Tip #1. Choose a Gummy with a Healthy, Sugar-Free, Low-Calorie Sweetener 

Integrative and functional health practitioners often recommend limiting added sugars as much as possible and using naturally occurring sweeteners in moderation, only when necessary. However, gummy vitamins are popular with users because of their sweet taste. When using gummy vitamins, the goal is to have a sweet and pleasant flavor without a detrimental impact on blood sugar, metabolism, body weight, brain function, or heart health. 

Unfortunately, most gummies on the market are high in unhealthy sweeteners such as sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Gummies are often sweetened with refined sugar (sucrose), or table sugar, usually 2 to 8 grams per serving.² Sugar is a type of carbohydrate known as a disaccharide, meaning it contains two simple sugar molecules linked together: glucose and fructose. The body breaks down sucrose into glucose and fructose for energy.  

Excess sugar consumption contributes to many harmful health conditions, including cardiovascular and metabolic concerns.^3-8 Sugar can also deplete vitamin C levels.⁹  

Fructose is a free-form monosaccharide carbohydrate, or a simple sugar, found in fruits, honey, and vegetables. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a sweetener made from corn starch that has been processed to convert some of its glucose into fructose, making it sweeter than regular corn syrup. Like sucrose, it contains nearly equal amounts of glucose and fructose.¹⁰  

Diets high in fructose are known to encourage cardiometabolic disease.¹⁰ HFCS intake by way of processed foods in the United States increased dramatically from the 1970s to 2000s and has been suggested as a factor in the increased incidence of obesity and overweight during that same time period.¹¹  

While glucose is easily used by every cell in the body, fructose—whether it’s from table sugar or high fructose corn syrup—needs to be converted to glucose, glycogen, or fat in the liver before the body can use it as fuel.  

Excessive consumption of sucrose and high fructose corn syrup can pose problems for metabolism, heart health, blood lipids, body weight, and liver function. It can also lead to an imbalanced inflammatory response.¹²  

Due to the drawbacks of sweetening gummies with sucrose, DaVinci® Laboratories uses the naturally occurring sweetener, allulose, in its high-quality gummy vitamins. DaVinci® included allulose in these keto gummies because it is a low-calorie sweetener similar in chemical composition to fructose, but with a different spatial structure. While it uses the usual fructose pathways, it is not metabolized by the body. This results in complete clearance of this low-calorie sweetener through the kidneys, while promoting healthy blood sugar and body weight.¹²* Starting with ADK Gummies, DaVinci®’s innovative line of gummy vitamins will offer integrative and functional practitioners a tasty and convenient way to deliver nutrients using a gummy sweetened with allulose.*  

Other low-calorie gummy sweeteners that deliver a hit of sweetness without harming blood sugar, metabolism, body weight, or heart health include stevia, xylitol, and monk fruit. 

For more about allulose and how it compares to other sweeteners, read our blog post, “Allulose Benefits: The Research Behind This Low-Calorie Sweetener”.   

Tip #2. Pick a Trustworthy Manufacturer Who Uses 3rd-Party Testing 

Gummies often don’t contain the ingredients they’re supposed to at the quantities stated on the label. Many clinicians and most consumers are not aware of these quality issues when shopping for gummy supplements. 

Being independently tested by a third party for quality and accuracy ensures the presence of the ingredients listed on the label in the correct amounts. It verifies that the product is free of contaminants. Manufacturers are not required to have their supplements tested by a third party. They must elect to have their gummies analyzed by independent organizations. 

Gummy vitamins often fail to meet label claims because of challenges with manufacturing and poor nutrient stability. Some gummies have high water content, are highly sensitive to changes in temperature and pH, and others are more resistant to blending during manufacturing. Proper measurement and addition of vitamins and minerals to a gummy matrix is difficult. Sometimes nutrients are simply sprayed on a candy base, according to ConsumerLab. Even laboratories may have difficulty accurately testing supplements made of gummy matrix. 

Gummies have to be heated to a high temperature during the manufacturing process. This means the manufacturer should wait until the material is cooling to add more heat-sensitive ingredients. However, not all manufacturers are knowledgeable about which raw materials are heat-sensitive and poorly suited for a gummy matrix. 

Certain nutrients are more likely to degrade in a gummy format. For example, folic acid is known to have poor stability in a chewable gel matrix. Manufacturers will therefore put in more of an ingredient (an “overage”) to account for these issues. Likewise, third-party testing authorities like the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) accommodate these problems by allowing gummies to contain up to 245% of the amount of folic acid listed on the label, and 250% of the amount of vitamin C, and still meet USP standards for quality. This type of extra leeway is given to gummies because of manufacturing challenges, whereas capsules and tablets are held to tighter regulations. 

Ideally, companies would design their formulas with carefully selected ingredients for a gummy matrix, institute a proper manufacturing process, and test each batch of gummy vitamins to ensure it meets label claims before distribution. 

That was the mission of DaVinci® Laboratories with their low-calorie, high-quality gummies. ADK Gummies are third-party tested for microbes, soy, and gluten as well as its ingredients meeting the label claim. This ensures proper potency, so you can trust that users are nourished with the amount of ingredients stated on the label. ADK Gummies are also tested for heavy metals and genetically modified ingredients initially when they are released to market, and then periodically at strategic timepoints during production.   

Learn more about third party testing in our white paper on choosing the best gummy vitamin, “Gummy Vitamins: How to Choose the Best Gummy Vitamins for Your Patients.” 

Tip #3. Look for an Opaque Bottle to Protect Nutrients 

Not all ingredients have a long shelf life, especially if they are stored in clear bottles. Certain vitamins, for example, are light-sensitive, meaning the energy from light can change their chemical structure.

When light, especially ultraviolet (UV) light, hits these molecules, it can cause reactions that break them apart or turn them into less-active forms. This is why consumer products like milk, oils, and supplements are often stored in opaque containers to protect their quality and potency.

Therefore, it’s important to choose a gummy that’s in an opaque bottle to protect its ingredients and extend its shelf life.  

Tip #4. Select a Manufacturer Who is Experienced with Bioactive Nutritional Ingredients 

Gummy vitamins do not always contain the highest quality and most bioavailable ingredients. When an ingredient is bioavailable, it means the body can absorb it and use it effectively right away.

One reason for lower-quality ingredients in gummies is that the manufacturer isn’t invested in high-quality and bioavailable forms of nutrients, which are the standard in integrative and functional practices. Another reason is the harsh manufacturing conditions for gummies. Highly bioavailable ingredients have trouble surviving extremes of heat, moisture, light, and pH during gummy vitamin manufacturing. Therefore, it is important to select a trustworthy and knowledgeable manufacturer when shopping for gummies.  

DaVinci® Laboratories designs gummy formulas with ingredients that are as bioavailable as possible, without compromising the quality and stability of the ingredients. They use ingredients that are tested and maintained with approved suppliers through vendor qualification programs. When well-matched for a gummy formula, they include ingredients that are trademarked and backed by research.  

For example, DaVinci® uses bioactive ingredients such as vitamin K2 in the form of menaquinone (MK-7) and vitamin D3 instead of vitamin D2. They may use the more bioavailable 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) instead of folic acid and methylcobalamin instead of cyanocobalamin.

This level of research and development balances the demand for quality ingredients with the limitations of gummy manufacturing for the best possible outcome.  

People Who May Benefit from Premium Quality Gummies 

While capsules or tablets are a good choice for many people in an integrative and functional practice (and carry the added benefit of no sweeteners), some users will not take them reliably. This can interfere with building and sticking to a consistent routine and may hold back health goals.

Ideal candidates for gummy vitamins include people who experience problems swallowing pills, including the elderly and children, as well as people who have busy schedules. 

People with Dysphagia  

An estimated 38% of Americans have difficulty swallowing pills, and gummy vitamins could be a valuable route for delivering nutrients to them.¹³ Also known as dysphagia, difficulty swallowing is estimated to affect 22% of adults over 50 years of age.¹⁴  

Dysphagia may lead to malnutrition, making gummies an important source of nutrients in this patient population. Any issue affecting muscle control and nerves can interfere with proper swallowing. High-quality gummy vitamins could provide an important source of supplemental nutrition to this group. 

The Elderly 

In a study of healthy older adults, 45% had inadequate intake of nutrients and micronutrient deficiencies. Being undernourished occurred in: 

• 5%-10% of community-dwelling older adults
• 50% of older adults in rehabilitation facilities
• 20% of adults in residential care
• 40% of older adults in hospitals¹⁵

Older patients find gummies an ideal way to supplement their dietary nutrient intake to avoid nutrient deficiencies. Because gummies taste good, elderly patients who are resistant to taking pills may be more likely to comply with a gummy vitamin recommendation.  

Children  

Kids find gummies a fun way to obtain their vitamins and nutrients. An estimated 70% of children’s vitamins are sold as gummies. Because children like the taste of gummies, it’s best to store the gummies out of reach of children, to avoid having a child consume more than the recommended dose. Childproof caps are necessary, too. 

Busy People  

People who are on the go find gummies a convenient way to take dietary supplements. It’s much easier to grab a gummy and rush out of the house than to take the time to find a beverage and swallow vitamins. Taking gummy vitamins regularly requires less discipline because they always provide a hit of sweetness, like a baked-in sweet reward. 

Choosing the Best Gummies

First and foremost, choosing premium sugar-free gummy vitamins involves looking for one that includes a healthy sweetener such as allulose while avoiding those sweetened with sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or sucralose. Look for gummy vitamins that are formulated for maximum ingredient quality and stability.  

Premium gummies also are: 

• Formulated with the best forms of nutrients suited to a gummy matrix
• Gluten-free
• Third-party tested for label claims
• Non-GMO
• Soy-free
• Stored in an opaque bottle to ensure a long shelf life for light-sensitive ingredients 

DaVinci® Laboratories has ushered in a new era of keto-friendly gummies that meet all these expectations. Now you can offer your integrative and functional users a better option for gummy vitamins: better than the gummy vitamins they buy from the grocery store, drug store, or ordered online.* Gummy vitamins are well suited for people who do not comply with nutritional protocols or who have aversions to pills. These include the elderly, children, people with dysphagia, or those who are always on the run.

Feel secure leaning on Davinci®’s many decades of experience and expert knowledge in the dietary supplement industry to bring you clean and healthy gummy vitamins. You can support your clients’ health with sweeteners that you can trust and high-quality ingredients at clinically relevant doses that match the label claims every time.  

References: 

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12. Teysseire F, Bordier V, Budzinska A, et al. Metabolic Effects and Safety Aspects of Acute D-allulose and Erythritol Administration in Healthy Subjects. Nutrients. Jan 15 2023;15(2)doi:10.3390/nu15020458
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