We have to admit that some gummy vitamins taste dangerously good! But that’s okay because they’re basically healthy candies, right?

Well, they are candies – that’s for sure. They’re convenient, fun to eat, and supposedly filled with all the nutrients your body needs. However, their health benefits have been glorified over the years. The main problem is that most gummy vitamin brands are missing too many essential nutrients.

According to the Institute of Medicine, we need to get 13 vitamins and 12 minerals from our diets. Since many of us don’t maintain an ideal and balanced diet all the time, we rely on fortified foods and supplements to achieve this goal. Multivitamins are often referred to as our “insurance policy” to ensure that we’re getting everything that our bodies need. Gummy vitamins are thought of as a fun (and yummy) way to get that “insurance”. However, we now know that most gummy multivitamin supplements lack adequate amounts of these necessary nutrients.

So much for that insurance policy!

ConsumerLab set out to see which nutrients are actually in some of the most popular brands of vitamins. They tested 37 brands of gummy multivitamins, and not one brand came even close to containing all the vitamins and minerals found in a good old fashioned multivitamin tablet such as Centrum or One-a-Day.

ConsumerLab found that Centrum MultiGummies for Adults was is missing 10 essential nutrients, while Nature Made Multi Adult Gummies and Vitafusion MultiVites each lacked 9 nutrients. Smarty Pants Adult Complete Multivitamin calls itself complete, yet it doesn’t have any B-1, B-3, or K vitamins or iron, magnesium, copper, selenium, and chromium. Not so complete, right? Even worse, some brands contained too much folate or vitamin A and exceeded the daily limit standards set by the Institute of Medicine.

Gummies are more difficult to manufacture, and the ingredients used tend to be of low quality. ConsumerLab suggested that those factors would explain the low vitamin and mineral content in gummy multivitamins. However, there’s still no excuse for mislabeling the products.

The takeaway message from ConsumerLab and its study are that if you’re going to spend money on multivitamins and take them every day, then you’re better off pouring a large glass of water and gulping down your multivitamin in tablet form. Say goodbye to the deliciousness of gummies and hello to multivitamins tablets and whole foods that actually give you all the nutrients you need! You can save yourself from a few cavities, too!