Sigh... who knew there were this many calories in vitamins?!?

Today I decided to set up my food diary to track my medications and vitamins, and really looked at the nutrition label on my vitamin bottles. Yikes! I was expecting there to be calories in gummy type vitamins, but was surprised to see how many calories there are in some of those "just swallow this pill" types. In hindsight, I should have really looked at this before - but I'm still a bit sad to realize that I could have easily been adding a 100 calories a day with just vitamins. Ah well. Live and learn.
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Replies

  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    Yeah I just had the realization the other day that my Omega three supplement that I'm taking has 20 calories per supplement and I take it twice per day! I mean, I guess I should have known this since it's just oil, but still.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    The only thing I take that has calories is my salmon oil capsules. Not really that many though...not enough for me to worry about anyway.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    100 calories in vitamin pills??

    Really?

    which ones are you taking??
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    OK so taking the gummies out brings the count down nicely.

    Not familiar with Biotin - 20 calories sounds a lot for a pill though.
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
    mine don't have any calories
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    kchapmanma wrote: »
    100 calories in vitamin pills??

    Really?

    which ones are you taking??

    Yeah, I take vitamin C, D3, B12, Zinc, Biotin, and a cinnamon alpha-lipoic acid supplement. It'd normally be better to take a multivitamin, but because I'm diabetic, my doctors have suggested I avoid niacin and chromium which are often in multivitamins. Niacin can raise your blood sugar levels, and chromium can cause issues with kidneys. The vitamin C is chewable, and the D3 and Zinc are gummies, so altogether they add up to 80 calories. I said 100 because sometimes the gummies stick together and I take 2 by accident.

    I didn't actually mean to buy gummy vitamins, so next time I'll be more careful when I restock my vitamins. I was expecting the gummies to have calories, but for some reason I was thinking they'd be more like 5 or 10 calories each instead of 20. The one that surprised me the most was the 20 calories for the Biotin - and the reason is really sort of ridiculous. The capsules for the Biotin stink, and since I don't really like taking them, I just assumed they wouldn't have any calories. I have a false belief that floats around in my head that the more enjoyable I find something, the more calories it will have and the worse for me it will be. The corollary is then the more I dislike it, the fewer calories and the better for me it must be. Doh.

    Zero calorie biotin!

    https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Biotin-5000-mcg-Capsules/dp/B00YMRO4GI/
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    Discouraging. I had been thinking replacing my multi with a gummy multi when the current bottle runs out, because they're so huge they're hard to swallow, but I don't really want to waste a lot calories on the gummy. Maybe somebody uses artificial sweeteners in their gummies? I have to think it's the sugar, nor the pectin or cornstarch or whatever it is they're to get them to gel, that's adding most of the calories.
  • Italiana_xx79
    Italiana_xx79 Posts: 588 Member
    I honestly wouldn't be worried unless you are taking a tremendous amount of them. The stress of worrying about the small things isn't doing any good. If you enjoy them, take them. If you're worried about the extra calories, do some walking lunges on your way to get them and do some air squats while you eat them. ☺️
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
    Discouraging. I had been thinking replacing my multi with a gummy multi when the current bottle runs out, because they're so huge they're hard to swallow, but I don't really want to waste a lot calories on the gummy. Maybe somebody uses artificial sweeteners in their gummies? I have to think it's the sugar, nor the pectin or cornstarch or whatever it is they're to get them to gel, that's adding most of the calories.

    Yeah, it's definitely the sugar in mine. In other capsules with fatty acids or oils it's the substance itself that has the calories, so probably not avoidable if you want to supplement with those.

    I initially switched for the prenatal because I couldn't keep a pill down in early pregnancy, and even later on found a pill really unsettled my stomach. I basically take a prenatal all the time now and find it's easier to stick to one brand than jump around. When I did use a regular women's multivitamin, I had to laugh though because I also bought the same brand's multi for men and it was rolled in sugar while the women's ones were not. My husband joked that the company probably thought it was the only way they could get men to take them, and I gotta say sometimes I wonder if that's the reasoning!
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 630 Member
    Unless you have a medical condition and your doctor recommends that you take a vitamin, then if you are eating an overall well rounded healthy diet full of a variety of fruits and vegetables then you very likely do not need any vitamin supplements except for:
    B12 — sometimes referred to as the ‘too clean’ vitamin. Humans used to get vitamin B12 from the soil residue on vegetables. But our vegetables today are too clean all the vitamin b12 is scrubbed off.
    D — sometimes referred to as the ‘sun shine’ vitamin. If you spend most days inside or live in the northern hemisphere where daylight in winter is limited. Then you may benefit from a vitamin D supplement.
    In any case, you really should talk with your doctor and consider having the vitamin levels in your blood measured. It is only if you measure the levels you already have will you know whether you need to take any supplements.

    Good luck!
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,131 Member
    Unless you have a medical condition and your doctor recommends that you take a vitamin, then if you are eating an overall well rounded healthy diet full of a variety of fruits and vegetables then you very likely do not need any vitamin supplements except for:
    B12 — sometimes referred to as the ‘too clean’ vitamin. Humans used to get vitamin B12 from the soil residue on vegetables. But our vegetables today are too clean all the vitamin b12 is scrubbed off.
    D — sometimes referred to as the ‘sun shine’ vitamin. If you spend most days inside or live in the northern hemisphere where daylight in winter is limited. Then you may benefit from a vitamin D supplement.
    In any case, you really should talk with your doctor and consider having the vitamin levels in your blood measured. It is only if you measure the levels you already have will you know whether you need to take any supplements.

    Good luck!

    Stick to the original posting. The OP didn't ask for opinions about taking or not taking vitamins, the OP just wondered about the calories that some vitamins have.
  • StellarIam38
    StellarIam38 Posts: 9 Member
    I would NOT be worried about 'calories from vitamins' focus more on your other macros, proper eating habits and an exercise routine that makes a difference.

    You can do it!

    Isaac
  • wmweeza
    wmweeza Posts: 319 Member
    My costco gummies are 15 calories for 2, my collagen supplement is 35 calories, so that's not too bad
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    Yep! I love my gummy vitamins though.