I stopped buying collagen gummies after reading this by Dr Karen in his weekly newsletter The Weekly Dose - Episode 173
December 28, 2025
“Why You Should Never Buy Gummy SupplementsThere are many mysteries in healthcare but few confuse me more than this: supplements in gummy form.
It’s the Trojan Horse of “wellness,” sneaking micronutrients into your diet via a delivery system that looks suspiciously like something a toddler would trade for stickers…I too fell for this hoax and I get the appeal.
Compliance is easier…they taste good and the branding is fun. It feels like you’re treating yourself and your health at the same time. Unfortunately…your biochemistry disagrees.
Here’s what most people don’t know:
- Nutrients decay in gummies, very fast.
Gummies are basically where vitamins go to die. Heat (how gummies are moulded), humidity, oxygen, light all accelerate degradation and unlike tablets or capsules, gummies have no hard protective shell, so nutrients are exposed from day one.
Even when they’re “third-party tested,” the question that matters is: Tested when?
Because testing the batch at manufacturing tells you NOTHING about what’s left 3 months later, or after sitting in a warehouse or the back of your cupboard like a forgotten bag of Haribo.
Many nutrients have steep decay curves like folate, vitamin C, and many Bs…they degrade quickly in moist, gummy environments
What you think is 100% RDA may be 30–40% by the time you swallow it.
2. Gummies have dosing limits
You can’t pack meaningful amounts into a gummy without turning it into a chewable brick. This is why creatine gummies are a joke (ask me how I know…) Most gummies rely on pixie-dust dosing, sprinkling just enough to list it on the label.
3. Gummies need sugar, binders, stabilisers
To make them chewable AND shelf-stable, companies add:
- Glucose syrup
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- Sugar
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- Gelatin or pectin
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- Oils
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- Colours
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- Flavourings
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None of these are inherently evil but when you're taking a “health product,” you probably didn’t intend to eat a tiny dessert.
4. They’re often under-dosed by design
Gummy manufacturers know you’ll eat 2 per day max. So they simply don’t include therapeutic doses. Not because they’re unethical but because gummies physically cannot hold them. It’s like trying to mail a sofa using a shoebox.
My personal gummy disaster
Once upon a naïve time, I bought creatine gummies. I thought: This is it. The future. Science + convenience.
What I actually bought was blue raspberry-flavoured lies. The serving size required more gummies than a small child eats during Halloween.
So what should you actually take? (+examples of what I take)
Keep it boring, efficient and real. My supplement stack is intentionally simple:
Creatine monohydrate, unflavoured powder: clinically effective, dirt cheap and zero nonsense.
LOAM (prebiotic fiber blend): I take it daily because fiber is the unsung hero of metabolic, gut, and immune health. Consistency > perfection. (P.S we’re doing a new year sale on the site right now if you want to check it out!)
Vegan Omega-3 (EPA/DHA: Good for brain, inflammation and overall long-term health.
Vitamin D3 + K2: Particularly important in the UK, where our sunlight strategy is “hope for the best.””