Guest Post: Gummy Supplements – Big Business? Yes. Big Nutrition? Not So Much

Our thanks to the office of biological dentist Dr. Gary Verigin for providing this article from their blog Know Thy Health. You can view the original post here.

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Once upon a time, gummy and other chewable vitamins were just kid stuff. Now, they’re very big business. As the New York Times reported last year,

Millions of people are hooked on gummies as a health supplement. Gummy multivitamins accounted for 7.5 percent of the $6 billion multivitamin market in the United States in 2016, according to estimates from the Nutrition Business Journal and projections from IBISWorld, a research company. And gummy products over all now account for $1 billion of the $41 billion supplement market in the United States, a more than 25 percent jump in sales since 2015, according to IBISWorld.

And why not?

Mintel’s 2016 Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Report underscored that supplement shoppers are looking to formats like gummies because they like taking vitamins and minerals in fun and easy delivery methods. The report noted that innovative delivery platforms such as gummies, and other confectionery methods, “provide an appreciated departure from consumers’ routine, allowing [the consumer] to have a more sensorial, enjoyable experience than with a tablet.”

Ah, yes. We’re all looking for “a more sensorial” experience with our vitamins.

But sure, gummies are easier to take than pills. They also taste good, as they should, considering how they’re typically made with sugar. While the total amount is low – a few grams per serving – if you’re taking several different gummy supplements or are grazing on them throughout the day (they’re “healthy,” after all), you could easily flirt with or surpass the maximum sugar intake for good dental health. That max is just 3% of your total daily calories from sugar. For the average adult, that works out to about 15.5 grams a day.

Thats the equivalent of less than half a can of Coca Cola or about 4 ounces of grape juice.

More, the nature of manufacturing these supplements typically means they pack less of a nutritional punch than conventional supplements. As Neutraceuticals World reported,

Director of product development for MegaFood (the Derry, NH-based brand from FoodState), Stacey Gillespie, discussed some of the difficulties with the gummy format. “Outside of the fact that there are a limited number of qualified and experienced manufacturers of gummy vitamins today, one of the biggest hurdles is the limited amount of active nutritional ingredients you can add to the gummy matrix, compared to the amount you can include in a tablet and/or capsule,” she said. “For example, to deliver 250 mg of vitamin C in a gummy, you would need three to four pieces to equal one serving, versus one tablet or capsule to deliver 250 mg vitamin C.”

Consider how many pieces you’d need to consume if you actually wanted to take a therapeutic dose of say 1000 mg or more.

That’s a whole lot of gummies.

This manufacturing issue may be one of the reasons why ConsumerLab.com has found

that some gummy supplements – particularly gummy multivitamins – do not contain their listed amounts of vitamins or minerals, or contain impurities. We continue to find more problems with candy-like vitamins like gummies than with traditional forms, such as tablets and caplets. Manufacturing challenges associated with candy-like products likely explain the higher incidence of problems.

Then there’s the fact that gummy candies more easily get stuck on and between the teeth, where oral pathogens can feast on their sugar content. As they say, what goes in must come out, and the end result of that feasting is quite acidic, contributing ultimately to tooth decay.

“Even if the gummies don’t have sugar,” dentist Jonathan Levine told HuffPo, ” what we call ‘biofilm’ is always naturally forming on your teeth, so if they don’t get cleaned properly, plaque is bound to develop.”

That said, there are instances in which gummy vitamins may be helpful, such as for people who have difficulty swallowing pills. For those who would not otherwise take supplements at all, they may be better than nothing.

That said, it’s important to keep in mind that most of your nutritional needs should be met as Nature intended: through a nicely varied whole food diet. Supplements are just that: supplements, not replacements. More, when you get your nutrients through whole food, you get the total nutritional package that helps your body to use them more effectively and efficiently.

With gummies? Not so much.

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How Overdoing It with the Probiotics May Lead to Brain Fog

Prevention is good medicine, and for a lot of folks, that includes using things like dietary supplements and herbal remedies on a regular basis.

It may be something they read about on Facebook or saw on YouTube or heard in a podcast or simply stumbled upon through search. Since there’s usually little risk of immediate harm from taking such products, why not? If it works, fantastic! If it doesn’t, no big loss, right?

But unless you’re doing this with a doctor’s guidance, there can be risks over the longer term.

For instance, there can be bad interactions between supplements – or, more often, supplements and prescription drugs – that you may not be aware of. Maybe you don’t take enough to get the effect you desire. Maybe you take too much. Maybe there are side effects that you don’t attribute to the supplements because “everybody knows” that they’re harmless.

Consider probiotics – super popular right now as research into the microbiome continues to suggest the importance of gut health on overall health. Probiotic supplements – including those added to various foods – are intended to add more helpful bacteria to the GI tract, supporting good immune, digestive and brain health in particular.

They also play a role in a recent study in Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology.

For this small but intriguing study, patients with gas, bloating, intact gut, and negative endoscopic and radiological tests were evaluated. Thirty patients also had brain fog, while 8 did not.

The researchers tested for bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine. They ran metabolic tests and measured urinary levels of D-lactic acid and L-lactic acid and ammonia levels in the blood. Bowel symptoms and how food moved through the GI tract were also assessed.

The team found that patients with brain fog tended to have large numbers of bacteria colonizing their small intestine. Their levels of D-lactic acid were especially high – a result of bacterial fermentation of sugars in the food they ate.

The brain fog patients all had one thing in common: They took probiotics, which may have contributed to bacterial overgrowth and a surge in D-lactic acid levels. This is significant, as D-lactic acid is temporarily toxic to brain cells. It can interfere with your ability to think.

In the study, the researchers found some patients had two to three times the normal amount of D-lactic acid in their blood, leading to bouts of brain fogginess that could last for hours after eating, and in some cases were so severe that patients had to quit their jobs.

Sometimes, the effects could be rapid, with the researchers finding one patient who experienced brain fogginess and bloating within a minute of eating.

“It happened right in front of our eyes,” [lead author Satish S.C.] Rao says.

Of course, not all people would experience the same symptoms from taking probiotics, and not all probiotics are the same either.

But Rao says the experience of the patients he and his team clinically observed over three years shows nobody should casually or indiscriminately be taking probiotics without taking medical advice.

“Probiotics should be treated as a drug,” he says, “not as a food supplement.”

The good news? When patients stopped taking the probiotics and took a course of antibiotics to tame the bacterial overgrowth, the brain fog went away. Seventy percent reported significant improvement in all their symptoms, and 85% reported that their brain fog had dissipated.

None of this should be taken to mean that probiotics are dangerous or should be avoided. They can be hugely helpful if the right kind are taken in the right dose.

The best way to make sure you use probiotics in a way that’s helpful to you – your gut, your immune system, your brain, the works – is simply to work with an integrative physician who can offer guidance and steer you toward the results you seek.

Image by Ashley Steel, via Wikimedia Commons

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The Newest Wellness Trend Isn’t Really So New: IV Drip Therapy

Suddenly, IV drip therapy is the one of the hottest wellness trends around.

Celebrities from Rihanna and Cindy Crawford to Simon Cowell and the Kardashians reportedly swear by them. Drip lounges and mobile IV units are cropping up across the country, offering everything from hangover cures to energy and immunity boosts, and plenty in between.

But truth be told, drip therapy is nothing new. It’s been around since the 1800s, just as science was shedding light on the human circulatory system. The kinds of vitamin infusions that are offered today have been around for roughly a century.

We’ve been offering such treatments in our holistic West Los Angeles clinic for years now, where we go well beyond the standard wellness supports such as vitamin C + minerals and the well-known Myers’ Cocktail. Such blends are great for energizing and supporting immunity and healthy cellular function. But they’re just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

For instance, ozone and hydrogen peroxide drips can energize and promote detox by getting more oxygen to your cells while improving circulation and stimulating mitochondrial energy production.

Glutathione is another effective immunity-booster and anti-inflammatory compound that’s great for general detox.

Another great tool in anti-aging therapies is phosphatidylcholine. This phospholipid is especially good for detoxing the liver, your body’s main organ of detoxification.

EDTA, DMSA, and DMPS are available for heavy metals chelation, but evidence also suggests that EDTA in particular may help enhance brain function, stimulate mitochondrial activity, and optimize nitric acid production (giving it a role to play in heart health, as well).

We also have blends available for addressing specific situations such as overcoming jetlag, combatting colds and flu, and recovering from a hangover. Or we can totally customize the treatment you receive, based on your specific needs.

While all of these options can be used in treatment of a wide variety of health problems, pursuing drip therapy as part of a broadly preventive health and wellness program can yield great benefits, helping to keep your body functioning at its best.

This is because, unlike with dietary supplements you swallow, IV therapy delivers 100% of the nutrients directly into your circulation so your body can transport them where they are most needed. It also delivers fluids that deeply rehydrate your body.

But while IV therapy is generally safe and easy, it’s important that you have it overseen by a physician or other qualified medical professional who knows you, your health history, and your current health situation, desires, and goals. For one, this will insure that high quality, medical grade nutrients are delivered.

More importantly, components of the IV may react with any pharmaceutical drugs or natural medications you may be taking. Getting your drips from a qualified physician minimizes the risk of a bad interaction.

If you’re looking to take your health and wellness to the next level and think IV drip therapy may have a role to play in your pursuit, we encourage you to contact us and set up your first appointment. We would be pleased to help you get to that next level.

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