Supplements gummies have exploded in popularity in recent years as a tasty way to get your minerals and vitamins.

The dietary supplements, which look like bite-sized candies, make for big business:  the global market was valued at $7 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach $13 billion by 2031, according to Straits Research.

Meanwhile, celebrities including Kourtney Kardashian and Gisele Bündchen have touted their own concoctions priced up to $35, said to boost everything from brain health to sleep quality.

Instead of the 'health boosting' ingredients being compressed into a hard pill or capsule, they are blended with water and then mixed with gelatin, cornstarch and sugar.

But are they as effective and safe as regular vitamin pills?




Kourtney Kardashian's vitamin supplement brand, Lemme, rolled out a line of gummy vitamins earlier this year

Now, experts have warned that the candied 'health boosters' are pretty much pointless - and certainly a poorer choice than hard pills when it comes to supplements that could leave you with serious health complaints.

Firstly, gummies have lower quantities of vitamins and Yummyslim power spin minerals than standard vitamin pills, experts have warned.

Stefan Pasiakos, Director of the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), said this is because the food additives, such as water and gelatin, erode the potency of the nutrients. 

As a result, our body absorbs less of the active ingredients.

Manufacturers often put in more of the vitamin in the gummy than the amount labeled on the jar to counter this problem, Dr Tod Cooperman, president of ConsumerLab.com, a private company that conducts safety and quality testing of consumer products, told TIME.





Like candy, vitamin gummies often have an unhealthy dose of sugar and are sometimes even coated in the sweet stuff

But this means deciphering exactly how much of a certain vitamin you've consumed can be tricky.

And, depending on when you eat the gummies, you may be getting too much of a vitamin, which has been linked to a higher risk of cancer.

Research by the University of Colorado in 2015 found that men who took vitamin E had a higher risk for prostate cancer, while too much folic acid, a kind of vitamin B, was associated with an elevated risk for colon cancer.

An overload of vitamins, such as vitamin C or zinc, can also lead to nausea, diarrhea and stomach cramps. 

This problem can be exacerbated with gummy vitamins labeled sugar-free, as they tend to be sweetened with sugar alcohols instead - also known to cause bloating and diarrhea in large volumes.

This was backed up by studies from the University of Turku in Finland in 2016 and the University of Salford in the UK in 2007.

Anything over 2,000mg of vitamin C, for instance, can cause diarrhea and nausea, according to Dr Dawn Gerber, a clinical ambulatory pharmacy specialist with Banner Health in Arizona.




An overload of certain vitamins, such as vitamin C or zinc, can lead to nausea, diarrhea and stomach cramps

Another reason it is common to see people overdo the gummy vitamins is because they taste so good, experts say. 

This can lead to people accidentally taking more than the recommended daily allowance.

And, like candy, the gummies often have an unhealthy dose of sugar and are sometimes even coated in sugar.

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 25 grams of sugar per day for women and 36 for men.

Gummy vitamins have an average of two to eight grams per two gummy serving, which could set you back almost half the daily allowance by the evening.

And from a dental perspective, the gummies won't do any good. The sugar and citric acid in gummy vitamins can get stuck to your teeth and rapidly cause cavities and tooth decay, said doctors from The Cleveland Clinic.