The number one brand for child vitamins in the US has ingredients that most parents would never give their children intentionally, so why aren’t we choosing healthy alternatives instead?
Vitamins for kids have to be healthy, right? So, why are the Flintstones Vitamins, popularly known as the #1 Choice of Pediatricians, full of unhealthy ingredients?
Manufactured by the pharmaceutical corporation Bayer, this brand of vitamins for kids has a shocking list of dangerous ingredients. Check them out below!
What Are the Dangerous Ingredients Inside Flintstones Vitamins?
These vitamins contain dangerous ingredients, including cupric oxide, aspartame, coal tar artificial coloring agents, zinc oxide, sorbitol, hydrogenated oil, ferrous fumarate, and GMO corn starch.
However, on the product page of Bayer Health Science’s Flintstones made for healthcare professionals, the product description says that 82 percent of children aren’t eating all the necessary veggies. And, without a sufficient amount of veggies, they may not be getting all the necessary nutrients.
However, once you look at the list of ingredients in these vitamins, we’re not sure that the goal is to provide kids with the necessary nutrients. In fact, most of the ingredients have severe side effects. Learn more about each one below:
- Aspartame is a synthetic combo of two amino acids: aspartic acid and l-phenylalanine.
In the body, it transforms into toxic methanol and formaldehyde. It has been associated with more than 40 severe health effects in biomedical literature and has been connected to carcinogenicity and neurotoxicity.
So, why is such a harmful substance present in products for children?
- Cupric oxide is part of these vitamins and is listed as a “nutritional source of copper that supplies 100 percent of the daily value (ages 4+).
However, cupric oxide, in the European Union’s Dangerous Substance Directive is labeled as a hazardous substance and classified as harmful and dangerous to the environment.
And, considering cupric oxide has industrial uses as a pigment in ceramics, for the production of dry cell batteries, and production of rayon fabric, it’s really questionable why it’s present in vitamins intended for kids.
- Zinc oxide
Every serving of these vitamins has 12 mg of zinc oxide. The manufacturer claims that this vitamin supplies 75 percent of the DV for this nutrient in kids aged two and three.
However, this substance is classified as an environmental hazard by the EU Dangerous Substance Directive and classified as dangerous for the environment. Therefore, the question which arises is how it’s dangerous for the environment, but not for humans.
- Sorbitol
This synthetic sugar substitute is classified as a sugar alcohol. And, it can be argued that it must not be a part of the human diet and much less a part of a kid’s diet.
Higher amount intake has been associated with gastrointestinal problems ranging from abdominal aches to IBS.
- Ferrous fumarate
This chemical is the only one for which there’s a warning on Flinstone’s website. Although you can’t die from iron intake from food, ferrous fumarate is an industrial mineral and it’s not present in natural sources.
Actually, it’s so toxic that an overdose of products with it is a leading cause of fatal poisoning in kids younger than six.
The vitamins’ manufacturer warns on the website to keep the product out of reach of kids and to call the poison control center or the ambulance in case of an overdose.
- Hydrogenated soybean oil
Finding this substance in a product for kids is unacceptable.
This is because the semi-synthetic fatty acids enter the tissues and have been associated with more than a dozen of severe health effects, including fatty liver disease, coronary artery disease, and cancer.
- GMO corn starch
Though some may argue that the amount of this substance present in the product is not significant, there’s more to it.
Brands have to be held accountable for refusing to label the products with honesty, particularly when they use ingredients made via genetic modification.
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