Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice. All statements are merely the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that individuals follow their doctor’s guidance in regard to multivitamin use.
First Day Vitamins is a vitamin brand for the whole family. The company sells gummy vitamins for kids, teens, adult men and adult women, and claims to use “Real science” and “The best ingredients.”
But does First Day Vitamins contain research-backed ingredients and effective vitamin doses? Does the brand contain any unhealthy ingredients? Why is it so hard to find the full ingredient list? And why do we take issue with some of the brand's marketing claims?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in First Day Vitamins to give our take on whether or not the brand is likely to be effective, and whether or not it's healthy.
We'll also
Key takeaways:
- Brand makes unproven health claims on website
- Contains some inactive ingredients we consider to be unhealthy
- We do not currently recommend First Day Vitamins
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in First Day Vitamins Men's Daily Provisions are shown below:
image source: https://firstday.com/
There is no dose listed for any of the fruit and vegetable ingredients, and there are several “Other Ingredients” which we consider unhealthy:
image source: https://firstday.com/
Cane sugar is included at a relatively low dose of 2 grams (g), but added sugar intake in excess is clinically shown to be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Since many Americans already consume too much added sugar from diet, we generally recommend avoiding supplements containing added, refined sugars.
Citric acid is a preservative and flavor enhancer shown to cause whole body inflammation in some individuals in a medical review published in the Toxicology Reports journal.
Natural flavors is a broad categorical term that fails to describe the specific flavoring agents used, and some flavoring ingredients may have toxicity concerns as we documented in our review of Activated You Morning Complete.
As documented above, these inactive ingredients are not currently listed on the Supplement Facts label, which is a clear violation of FDA regulations.
Questionable Health Claims on Brand Website
Beyond the questionable marketing claims on the First Day Vitamins website, there are a number of questionable health claims that we wish to highlight.
As shown below, a doctor named Kim Langdon claims to recommend First Day Vitamins because it’s challenging to get children to eat three to four servings of produce:
image source: https://firstday.com/
But First Day Vitamins doesn’t even publish the doses of the fruit and veggie ingredients, so how can consumers know whether it meets the criteria for one (or more) servings of fruit or vegetables?
First Day Vitamins also claims to use the “most absorbable ingredients”:
image source: https://firstday.com/
However, no proof is provided for this claim.
We haven’t come across any evidence published by the brand that their ingredients are any more or less absorbable than the ingredients in other multivitamins.
Are Multivitamins Even Necessary?
We haven’t come across much convincing medical evidence that the average healthy adult benefits from multivitamin supplementation.
A 2012 medical review analyzed data from clinical trials and population studies on multivitamin supplementation and concluded that multivitamin and multi-mineral supplements “may slightly increase the risk of cancer” over long periods of use.
A meta-study published in the Nutrition journal suggested that multivitamin use is safe, but didn’t find that it improved any health outcomes compared to individuals not taking multivitamins.
A 2012 medical review found that multivitamin supplementation may improve some aspects of cognitive function such as free recall memory.
First Day Vitamins vs. Popular Vitamin Brands
Here's how First Day Vitamins compares to other popular multivitamin brands in terms of formulation quality, in our opinion:
MaryRuth's
This brand uses vitamin formats which are optimal for absorption, including methylcobalamin for vitamin B12, which is clinically shown to be the most-absorbed form of this vitamin.
We take issue with the use of plastic packaging for the liquid formulations (due to the risk of microplastic leaching), but we consider the non-liquid vitamin formulations sold by MaryRuth's to be higher quality than First Day Vitamins.
Winner: MaryRuth's
Hiya Vitamins
This is another popular multivitamin brand marketed primarily for children.
This brand is free from the ingredient disclosure issues documented in this article, and doesn't use any ingredients we consider unhealthy, as we documented in our Hiya Vitamins review article.
Hiya Vitamins wins from a health standpoint.
Winner: Hiya Vitamins
Ritual
Clinically proven to be effective in independent trials published in peer-reviewed journals, which is the gold standard of product research.
Free from unhealthy additives.
We consider Ritual to have the advantage from both a potential efficacy and health standpoint.
Winner: Ritual
Our Clean Vitamin Picks
Performance Lab NutriGenesis Men and Performance Lab NutriGenesis Women is our top multivitamin brand.
This brand contains a complete set of vitamins and minerals in absorbable formats, and we tried it ourselves and noted subjective energy improvements.
This product line is free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
First Day Vitamins Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Lower in sugar than some gummy supplements
- Nutrients seem appropriately dosed
Cons:
- Contains added sugar
- Contains citric acid
- Contains natural flavors
- Brand makes questionable health claims
- Brand has two different ingredient lists
- Multivitamin supplementation may be a waste of money
- Less healthy than some competitors
