What all parents need to know about gummy vitamins

The vitamin aisle at your local drugstore is under assault. Call it the attack of the gummy bears.

The chewy treat made of gelatin and sugar was formerly known as candy, but now it’s a health product encapsulating everything from children’s multivitamins to supplements for seniors. It’s been estimated that nearly 70 percent of children’s vitamins come in gummy form, making them appealing to kids — too appealing, some critics say, noting that hundreds of parents rush to the emergency room each year with children who ate a whole bottle.

Then there’s the sugar — a gram or so in each vitamin — which troubles both nutritionists and dentists. “Ask any dentist if it’s OK to give sticky candy to a child every day, and they will say no,” said Dr. Roger Lucas, a pediatric dentist near Seattle.

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages parents from giving children vitamins at all, saying they should get nutrients from food. Still, nearly half of American parents give their children supplements, believing they improve their health. The gummy-vitamin craze, however, troubles even some parents who buy them.

“It’s definitely scary, because when I give one to them, they always say, ‘We want more,’” said Jennifer Marquez, a California mother of two preschoolers who once got into a bottle of gummy vitamins and ate at least half a bottle.

Overdoses, while common, rarely cause significant health problems, poison-control officials say. But when considering whether to buy gummy vitamins, there are things every parent should know.

Child-proof? Don’t believe it

When Marquez, a communications consultant in Orange, California, got home from work one day in 2015, she noticed that the vitamins that were normally in the bathroom were missing. She asked her daughter where they were, and her daughter, then 3, said, “Me and Zane ate them all today.”

Panicked, Marquez called her pediatrician and then a 24-hour help line at St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group, where she worked. Since the children, who were then ages 3 and 15 months, didn’t seem sick, she didn’t have to take them to the emergency room, and nurses assured her the children would be OK.

Statistics

That’s the case with most overdoses reported to poison hotlines across the country.

In 2014, there were about 44,000 calls to the nation’s poison-control centers related to vitamins. More than half — 25,441 — involved children under the age of 6 who had consumed excessive gummy or chewable vitamins, said Dr. Toby Litovitz, director -of the National Capital Poison Center in Washington D.C.

“It’s very common. Children eat lots of gummy vitamins and chewables,” Litovitz said, noting that not all overdoses are reported, so these figures represent “the tip of the iceberg,” the lowest possible number of cases.

“But most of these cases are not that serious,” Litovitz said. The main danger is an overdose of iron, which, if consumed in large amounts, can lead to nausea, vomiting, bleeding, shock and death.

Because of this, poison-control centers advise parents to be aware of whether any multivitamins contain iron and to keep all vitamins not only out of reach, but out of sight, from children. And those child-proof bottles? They’re not.

A bear market

The Gummi bear was invented in Germany in the 1920s and the gummy vitamin in Oregon in 1998.

There, two natural-foods advocates looking for a way to get their children to take vitamins came up with the idea to mix fruit crystals and echinacea, a herb that many people belief boosts their immune system.

It took Kate Jones and Marty Rifkin five attempts to get Walgreen’s to take a chance on their then-unusual product. A decade later, though, they sold their company for $650 million, and gummies now rule the vitamin aisle at drug stores across the country.

“The gummy delivery form grew out of my own desire to create a vitamin supplement for my children that was effective, but, most importantly, one that they would take,” said Jones, the co-founder of Northwest Natural Products who now runs a foundation with her husband.

“It was revolutionary in that it had no artificial colors or sweeteners and it tasted good. Once we saw people react with such a positive response to the taste, we continued our development in this area, eventually coming up with the gummy bear delivery form,” Jones said.

Jones’ children are now young adults, so she no longer has to worry about overdoses and she agrees that children should get their nutrients from wholesome food. But the product she and her husband