They come in all colors, shaped like teddy bears, stars, and sometimes coated in sugar. They look like candy. Taste like candy. And a candy name: gummies. Except it’s not. These gummies are food supplements, they flood drugstores and online sites, and promise, depending on the case, hair that grows faster, skin prepared for the sun, rapid weight loss or even deep and restorative sleep.
But with their candy-like appearance, are they really harmless? Can we take them without risk? And are they effective? 20 minutes studied the question.
A “playful” candy appearance
A fan of food supplements, Emilie regularly takes treatments: “in winter, to boost my energy and my immunity with vitamins and probiotics, and in summer to prepare my skin for a tan,” explains the 36-year-old young woman. I buy them in drugstores in the form of capsules, it seems more serious to me than gummies.” But these cures are now available in the form of gummies, and their sales are surging.
The candy side is precisely what Célia, a 28-year-old young mother, likes: “It’s more fun than capsules,” explains the young woman, who was tempted after seeing an influencer extol the merits of ‘a brand of gummies. I had my baby eight months ago, and after my pregnancy I noticed that I was losing my hair. When I saw that this Instagrammer that I love very much, also a mother, was taking a cure, it gave me desire and confidence. It’s simple, every day we take two candies, with a very pleasant little taste of red fruits. I’ve just started so I’m waiting to see the results, but I’m already considering testing slimming gummies to get rid of my last pregnancy pounds,” confides the young woman.
A “sweet tasting infusion”
But this candy aspect does not reassure the experts at all. “It may be a good business idea, but not for health,” says Dr. Jacques Fricker, nutritionist and co-author of All about food supplements (ed. Odile Jacob). Because in terms of composition, in this galenic form, these peach, tutti frutti or even pineapple flavored gummies all have a common characteristic: the first ingredient which composes them is a “bulking agent”, maltitol, or E965. “Like all sweeteners, it will stimulate the desire for sugar, and somehow fool the brain into believing that we have ingested sugar,” explains Dr. Fricker. This will trigger insulin secretion, which has the effect of slowing down lipolysis, the burning of fat. Already no food supplement has reported proof of its effectiveness in weight loss, but then in the form of gummies, it is a totally counterproductive deception.
An opinion shared by Raphaël Gruman, nutritionist and author of 100 anti-inflammatory express bowls (ed. Leduc): “If the key ingredient of a food supplement is a sweetener, the approach loses its meaning: you have to take several gummies per day to reach an interesting dosage, which has the consequence that you is infused with sweet taste all day long, which maintains dependence on sugar, one of the most addictive substances there is. So by following a slimming treatment in the form of gummies, we increase the risk of cravings and breakdown.”
In addition, this maltitol, which “is a sweetener from the polyol family, certainly provides fewer calories than sugar, but it can cause digestive and intestinal disorders such as bloating and diarrhea if consumed in high doses, warns Dr. Fricker. And we know that sweeteners pose other health risks: in addition to awakening the desire for sugar, they increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and promote excess weight. In addition, scientific studies show that sweeteners are bad for the intestinal microbiota.” The WHO therefore advises against the consumption of these synthetic sweeteners.
Confusion and risks of overdose
And that’s not all: with their little taste and their harmless appearance obtained with a lot of colorings, flavorings, texturing agents and other additives, “gummies are designed to be mistaken for candy: in the The consumer’s mind is confusing, deplores Raphaël Gruman. We tell ourselves that this will not have an impact on health even if we exceed the dosage even though this is not trivial.”
In practice, “the taste and presentation of these gummies risk leading to misuse and overdose of these food supplements: it does not arouse the same vigilance in the consumer to have in their hands a pack of capsules or a box of gummy bears of all colors, says Dr. Fricker. Particularly with children, who will mistake them for candy, with both the risk of overdose of active ingredients when the recommended dosage is exceeded, and excessive consumption of sweeteners.”
Not to mention that these gummies, “over the counter, often offered in packs, promising multiple actions on stress, figure or even sleep, with consumers who mix the cures, without thinking of the cocktail effect or the interactions possible and potentially dangerous when taking medication, warns Raphaël Gruman. Certain supplements contain, for example, vitamin K, which should not be taken with anti-coagulant treatments, while other formulations of gummies are not recommended in cases of thyroid disorders. It is therefore recommended to avoid “concomitant cures,” adds Dr. Fricker, “so as not to increase the risk of overdose.”
Lower efficiency
Ultimately, do gummies have the same effectiveness as food supplements in capsules or powder? “Not at all,” replies Raphaël Gruman, “because the quantity of active ingredients that can be integrated into a gummy is relatively low compared to supplements in traditional form. Ultimately, the beneficial dose for the patient is much lower. And this is not anecdotal: between a gummy and a capsule, we have an effectiveness ratio of 1 to 10 and with a powder sachet, it is 1 to 100. For certain active ingredients, it would be necessary to consuming gummies by the handful every day is not possible.”
This is also why Hygée, a brand of plant-based food supplements, has chosen not to offer gummies: “While their “candy” side may please, this format does not seem satisfactory because “it is impossible to put a lot of active ingredients inside and we very often find added sugar”.
Additional problem posed by gummies: “their dilution takes place in the stomach, where the capsule can release its active ingredients in the colon,” explains Raphaël Gruman. However, for probiotics, supposed to reseed the intestinal flora in the colon, if you take them in the form of gummies, the digestive juices degrade them before they can reach their destination to be effective. This form therefore limits certain uses.” It is even “uninteresting,” adds Dr. Fricker, “because we oscillate between low effectiveness and risk of misuse. The reality is that more than food supplements, these gummies are at most lightly supplemented candies.”