The Ugly Truth About Gummy Vitamins

As a doctor (and a mom!) I am always looking for palatable and enjoyable ways to add healthy habits to the lives of myself, my patients, and my kids. Often patients will ask me about gummy vitamins given their wild popularity. While they can be delicious, I am not a big fan - they are not particularly potent, contain a large amount of sugar, and require a huge number of daily tabs to obtain reasonable results.

For example, I explored various CoQ10 gummies in the market and found some interesting examples. The Natalist CoQ10 Gummies, while popular, contain 3 grams of added sugars per 200mg ubiquinone (not bio-identical ubiquinol). With 60 gummies per bottle and no liposomal emulsification, you'd need 6 gummies daily—totaling about 9 grams of extra sugar (a bit over 2 teaspoons) at a cost of approximately $4.00 per day (!) to match one Nest Egg tablet's dosage.

What about the ubiquitous brand Qnol? At $11.89 in Target, much cheaper than Natalist's $39.99, these gummies also contain ubiquinone, not bio-identical ubiquinol. Each dose is two gummies, providing 4 grams (one teaspoon) of sugar per serving. To match one Nest Egg tablet, you'd require 6 gummies daily, adding 12 grams of sugar (3 teaspoons) to your diet, needing to take them with a meal containing fat. The total daily cost amounts to $1.20.

Are there ubiquinol-based gummies available? In my search stumbled upon these VED brand gummies on Amazon, but without the Kaneka certified label—the sole producer of ubiquinol—I doubt their actual content. Priced at $44.99 for 90 gummies, each with 150mg of ubiquinol, the absence of a supplement facts label online makes me skeptical about their safety. A daily dose of this nonliposomal product would cost around $2.00.

While I enjoy candy, I prefer my sugar in chocolate or ice cream rather than my medicine. Especially considering that gummies lack the potency of softgels and lack liposomal emulsification. Plus, with three times daily administration there's the real risk of forgetting daily doses (Claxton & Pierce, 2001), resulting in inadequate CoQ10 intake. If swallowing Nest Egg softgels is challenging, remember you can open the protective capsule and consume the VESIsorb emulsified ubiquinol directly or in a smoothie!