I’m a pharmacist and would never take these supplements — beware a viral social media trend
She finds gummy vitamins un-bear-able.
UK pharmacist Amina Khan — founder and director of the skincare and supplements brand the Pharmacist Beauty — is revealing the three types of supplements she avoids.
“I think you’re gonna be surprised at most of these,” Khan told her 271,500 TikTok followers.
Gummy vitamins
“These are basically just a sugar pill — you might as well go have a sweet,” Khan declared. “They can be very easily over-consumed and can lead to mineral toxicity.”
There are often 3 to 5 grams of sugar in each gummy vitamin, Nebraska Medicine reports, and gummies tend to have fewer nutrients per serving compared to traditional multivitamins.
UCLA Health recommends checking the label to ensure the gummies contain the proper amount of nutrients and not too much sugar, looking for a certification seal on the package to signify the gummies have been third-party tested and sticking to the recommended dose.
Binging gummy vitamins is an easy way to exceed your recommended daily sugar intake and may lead to toxic levels of vitamins such as A, D, E and K.
Khan said she prefers traditional capsules and tablets for adults and liquids or spray supplements for children.
General multivitamins
About a third of Americans, especially people 65 and older, take a multivitamin every day.
“These have a bit of everything in them,” Khan explained. “Some of the doses of each nutrient are so low they’ll hardly have an effect on you. Also, you don’t need all the vitamins in the multivitamin.”
Some researchers say that multivitamins are a waste of money — there’s no evidence they reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer or premature death, for example.
There are some exceptions. Pregnant women and people who are malnourished may benefit from a multivitamin, though for the most part, physicians recommend simply eating a balanced diet to get your fill of nutrients.
Hair, skin and nail multivitamins
Supplements devoted to hair, skin and nail health have become popular thanks to the Kardashians and social media advertisements, but Khan favors “solution-focused supplements” — individual vitamins or supplements that target a specific health concern.
“Hair, skin and nail multivitamins, what do these focus on? Hair, skin or nails?” Khan wondered.
