Vitamin D3 soft gel - Calories?

mytyglotz
mytyglotz Posts: 1,804 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello, All!!

I have a Vitamin D3 supplement (softgel form)
with the following ingredients listed under "other ingredients" (I'll also try to insert a photo of the bottle):
Organic, extra virgin olive oil and softgel (bovine gelatin, vegetable glycerin and purified water).

It doesn't have the information on the bottle -- but it contains oil, so would that mean these soft gels contain calories?

Should I be concerned about it inhibiting fat loss if I don't adjust my daily caloric intake?

I tried to find an answer before asking you All, but I haven't found one, hence I am here!!
Thank you so much for your time and care.
I pray you are thriving (:

8njkfgow7lj3.jpg

Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    My fish oil is 9 calories per capsule, and says so on the label. That's 1 g of fat.

    Your D3 doesn't have anything regarding this on their website either: http://www.navacenter.com/docs/default-source/product-information/intensive-d3.pdf?sfvrsn=0

    I would assume it means that the calories from oil are so low that they are not required to be included, but your best bet is to contact them and ask: 800-762-6282
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    In general, foods in the US can be called “zero calorie” if they’re fewer than 5 calories per serving. Unless you’re taking far more than a usual, safe dosage, you are probably getting no more than 4 calories per dose. That is not going to make a noticeable difference in fat loss.

    However, it is good to be aware of what’s in your supplements other than the active ingredient. I learned that when a routine fasting blood glucose test came back high—turned out there was more sugar than I’d realized in a chewable supplement I had taken before my blood draw.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I added a few calories into my fish oil logging to cover the oil in the D3. I forget now how I came up with the number. I probably estimated high. I think something else is covered in that number too but I forget what it is now.

    If I had not made it easy to log I probably would not do it.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,281 Member
    I would not worry about logging it at all myself - but if you want to, just call it 5 calories and log it each day

    You could contact the manufacturer but seems obvious the answer is going to be around 5 calories - maybe 4, maybe even 9 - but definitely in that ball park and a few calories out is going to make no difference.
  • Luke_rabbit
    Luke_rabbit Posts: 1,031 Member
    My vitamin D softgel also doesn't list calories. It's probably a quarter the size of my spouse's fish oil capsules (15 calories), so likely 3-4 calories.

    I made the decision early on not to worry about the couple supplements I take. If I took a lot, I would rethink it.

    This decision has definitely not impacted my weight loss. I was on track based on my deficit the entire time and now am actually struggling to stop losing in maintenance, even though I have increased my calories.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,092 Member
    weigh 10 or 20 of the capsules (however many you need to overcome your scale's tendency to treat low weights as zero, if your scale does that). divide the weight by the number of capsules you weighed. Is the answer 1 gram or less? Then there's less than 1 gram total of fat (olive oil), protein (gelatin), and carbs (glycerin) -- the capsule also contains water, so the calorie-contributing macros will add up to less than the total weight of the capsule. So you would know the capsule is less than 9 calories. Is that really worth worrying about?
  • mytyglotz
    mytyglotz Posts: 1,804 Member
    Thank you All for responding - I cannot emphasize enough how impressed I am by all the support I have gathered from this community. Thank you. Those two words will never be enough.

    I also want to just want to follow-up on my original post by saying I did end up contacting the manufacturer (NAVA) with my inquiry - they graciously allowed me to speak with a nutritionist there who provided me with an answer similar to those you all gave me. That is, the softgels do contain calories, but they are minimal.

    Thank you all, again, for answering so quickly. I don't mean to overthink it or worry about something to an unnecessary extent, but I admit I am wary about what products and ingredients I put into my body. I like to know everything about the things I expose my body to - or at least as much as I possibly can know about them.
    So, to hear from you all and what you think, your personal experiences, really reassures me and brings peace to my mind. Since it's a supplement, I am still skeptical about it, but I feel a lot better about taking it in the small dose I do. I plan to keep record of my supplementation to see how it affects me overall.

Categories