Kids Growing Up Gummies: A Guide

This is the only children's product we sell, and the only one in our range that is not built around a botanical. It is a calcium, vitamin D3, K2 and zinc gummy, with a small botanical blend, collagen and three amino acids alongside. Because it is for children, the information supplied with the product is the part that matters most, and we would rather you read it before giving it than after. Two items on the label rule the product out for some children entirely.

What it is

A children's vitamin and mineral food supplement

Serving

2 gummies

Servings per bottle

30 — one month

Format

Grape-flavoured pectin chews

Suitable for vegetarians?

No — contains collagen from an animal source

Cautions

See the product label and leaflet

01 What this product is

A food supplement for children, in the form of a grape-flavoured chew set with fruit pectin. A serving is two gummies. A bottle holds sixty, so a bottle is a month.

The bulk of what it provides is four nutrients: calcium, vitamin D3, vitamin K2 and zinc. Alongside those sit a 100 mg blend of six botanicals, 100 mg of collagen hydrolysate, and small amounts of three amino acids. The four nutrients are the part with a real evidence base behind them. The rest is present in small amounts, and we will be straightforward about that in section 02.

A supplement is for filling a gap. If your child does not have a gap, the sensible answer is not to buy this.

What we are allowed to say, and what we are not. Vitamins and minerals are different from botanicals here. A handful of health claims for calcium, vitamin D, vitamin K and zinc are authorised in Great Britain, including claims about children's growth and bone development, and they can be used where a product provides a significant amount of the nutrient. Health claims on botanicals, by contrast, remain unauthorised and "on hold" — so nothing at all may be claimed for the six plants in the blend, and we make no claim for them. Where we state an authorised claim in this guide, we state it in the authorised wording and nowhere else.

This is not a substitute for food. Calcium comes from dairy, fortified plant drinks, tinned fish with bones, and green vegetables. Most children in the UK get enough. Vitamin D is the genuine exception — UK public health advice is that everyone over one year old should consider a daily 10 µg vitamin D supplement, particularly in autumn and winter, because we do not get enough sunlight. If vitamin D is the reason you are here, a plain vitamin D drop or tablet at 10 µg is cheaper, simpler and easier to dose than a multi-ingredient gummy.

02 What's in a serving

Each serving of two gummies provides:

Calcium

300 mg (37.5% NRV)

Vitamin D3 (as cholecalciferol)

20 µg (400% NRV)

Vitamin K2 (as menaquinone)

60 µg (80% NRV)

Zinc

6 mg (60% NRV)

Botanical blend

100 mg — spirulina, astragalus root, poria mycelium, eucommia bark, polygonatum root, ginkgo biloba leaf

Collagen hydrolysate

100 mg

L-glutamine

20 mg

L-ornithine

20 mg

L-arginine

10 mg

Energy and macronutrients

12 kcal, 0.3 g protein, 3 g carbohydrate (of which 2 g sugars), 0 g fat, 0.08 g salt

Read the percentages carefully — they are adult figures. Nutrient Reference Values are adult reference values. The law requires them to be used on the label, and there are no separate NRVs for children, so a percentage on this bottle is telling you the share of an adult's reference intake. That is why vitamin D reads as 400%. It does not mean four times what a child needs; it means four times an adult reference value of 5 µg. A dash against an ingredient means no NRV has been established for it.

On the 20 µg of vitamin D. UK advice is 10 µg a day for children over one. This product provides double that in a serving. That is within established safe upper limits for children over one year old, and it is not a dose to be alarmed by on its own — but it is a reason not to give it alongside anything else containing vitamin D. Stacking is the single most likely way to get this wrong.

On the 6 mg of zinc — read this before buying for a younger child. Zinc has an established upper intake level that varies by age: 7 mg a day for ages 1–3, 10 mg for 4–6, 13 mg for 7–10, and higher for teenagers. A serving of two gummies provides 6 mg. For a one-to-three-year-old that is 86% of the entire daily ceiling from the supplement alone, before anything they eat — and an ordinary diet supplies roughly another 4 to 7 mg. On that arithmetic the ceiling is exceeded for the youngest children, and likely for four-to-six-year-olds too.

The label does not currently state a minimum age. Our honest advice is that this product suits older children rather than toddlers and pre-schoolers, and that if your child is under about seven you should speak to a pharmacist before giving it, or choose a product formulated for that age. Two further points of context: the upper limits for young children are extrapolated from adult data rather than measured in children, so the margin is less solid than the numbers suggest; and the reason a zinc ceiling exists at all is that sustained high intake reduces copper absorption, which matters more in a growing child than in an adult.

On the botanical blend, the collagen and the amino acids. One hundred milligrams shared between six plants is a small amount of each — average it out and it is under 20 mg per botanical. There is no meaningful published evidence for any of these six plants in children, and no health claim may be made for them. The collagen at 100 mg and the amino acids at 10–20 mg are likewise small amounts without paediatric evidence behind them. We would rather set that out plainly than let a long ingredient list imply more than it delivers. If those ingredients are what attracted you to the product, they are the part we can say least about.

The formula also contains ginkgo biloba leaf, which is unusual in a children's product and worth knowing about. The cautions that apply are on the product label.

03 How to give them

Serving

2 gummies

How

Chewed thoroughly before swallowing, under adult supervision

Maximum

Do not exceed the stated recommended daily dose

Timing

No particular time of day is specified

Storage

Cool, dry place below 25°C, away from direct sunlight

Keep

Out of the sight and reach of children

Also

Not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet or a healthy lifestyle

Chewed, thoroughly, with an adult present. A gummy is a chewable sweet-textured product and it needs to be chewed rather than swallowed whole, which is why supervision is on the label. Younger children in particular should not be handed the bottle.

Store it out of reach and treat it as a supplement, not a sweet. A grape-flavoured chew is exactly the sort of thing a child will happily eat more of.

Keep the bottle somewhere your child cannot get to it. This matters more for a gummy than for a capsule, for the obvious reason: it tastes nice. Overconsumption is the realistic risk with this format, and the vitamin D and zinc are the reasons it matters.

Miss a day and give the next day's serving as normal. Do not double up.

04 Taste and format

Grape-flavoured, set with fruit pectin rather than gelatine, soft to chew. A serving of two provides 12 kcal and 3 g of carbohydrate, of which 2 g is sugars.

Sweetness comes partly from maltitol, a sugar alcohol. Maltitol is not absorbed like sugar, which is the point of using it, but the portion that reaches the large intestine can draw in water and ferment — which is why the label carries a laxative warning. At two gummies a day that is unlikely to be an issue. It becomes one if a child eats considerably more than the serving, which is another reason for the storage advice above.

The pectin base makes the product suitable for people avoiding gelatine. It does not make it vegetarian: the collagen hydrolysate comes from an animal source, so this product is not suitable for vegetarians or vegans. That is worth being clear about, because a pectin gummy is often assumed to be vegetarian by default.

05 In short

A grape-flavoured children's gummy providing calcium, vitamin D3, vitamin K2 and zinc, plus a small botanical blend, collagen and three amino acids. Two gummies a day, thirty servings a bottle. The four nutrients are the substance of it; the botanicals, collagen and amino acids are present in small amounts with no paediatric evidence and no permitted claims. It contains vitamin K, so it is not for a child on blood-thinning medicine; it contains spirulina, so it is not for a child with PKU; it contains ginkgo biloba, which is unusual in a children's product; and it contains collagen, so it is not vegetarian. Do not give it alongside another vitamin D or zinc supplement.

Shop the product: Kids Growing Up Gummies · Read the research: published studies on these nutrients

This is a food supplement, not a medicine. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition. Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet or a healthy lifestyle. Do not exceed the recommended daily dose. Keep out of the sight and reach of children. If your child is taking any medication or is under medical care, speak to your doctor or pharmacist before use. ProBotanics Ltd, company number 13685177, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE.