Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice, and is just the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that parents follow their pediatrician’s guidance in regard to children’s vitamins.

Hiya Vitamins is a children’s vitamin brand that’s marketed as a healthier alternative. The brand states the following on their website: “Many children's vitamins include added sugars, dyes, and gummy additives. So instead, we made Hiya.”

But do children even benefit from supplementing with multivitamins? Does Hiya contain any unhealthy ingredients? Was the brand caught falsely advertising their products? And is Hiya healthier than traditional kids multivitamins like Flintstones?

In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we review clinical studies on children’s multivitamins to see if the research suggests they're beneficial.

We’ll also analyze the Hiya Vitamins formulation to give our take on whether or not the brand is healthy, highlight a case of potential false advertising, and compare Hiya to Flintstones vitamins to see which is healthier.

Key takeaways:

• All children may not require multivitamin supplementation
• Contains one (mildly) unhealthy inactive ingredient
• We don't currently recommend Hiya Vitamins

Do Children Even Need Multivitamins?

Whether or not children benefit from multivitamin supplementation has been studied in medical research.

A medical review published in the Journal of Nutritional Science suggests that multivitamin supplementation can be beneficial in children in the case of a documented nutritional deficiency, or if the child has an imbalanced (unhealthy) diet.

So if a child is found to have low vitamin D levels on an annual lab test, for example, a multivitamin may be useful.

Multivitamin supplementation may also be useful for children who refuse to eat vegetables and thus are at risk of nutritional deficiencies.

A 2019 medical review on multivitamins marketed to children in Canada found that the nutrient levels in these vitamins were high enough in some cases to potentially pose a health risk:

“Yet our study reveals that the median dose levels for all of these nutrients (with the exception of vitamin K) far exceed the AI recommendations.”

A 2012 medical review assessed potential benefits and risks of multivitamin supplementation in children and concluded that “the benefits appear to be limited.”

Overall, our take is that multivitamin supplementation may benefit some children depending on nutritional status, but it should be assessed on an individual basis with the help of a licensed healthcare practitioner.

The nutritional needs of developing bodies and brains are more sensitive than the nutritional needs of adults, and it would be very challenging to take a one-size-fits-all approach to pediatric vitamin supplementation.

Hiya Ingredient Analysis

The Fruit and Vegetable Blend in Hiya Kids Daily Multivitamin are shown below:

image source: https://hiyahealth.com/

There are 12 ingredients in this blend, with a total dose of 25 milligrams (mg), or 2 mg per ingredient.

One dried apple ring provides a dose of 6,400 mg according to the USDA, meaning one single dried apple ring provides 3,200x the dose of the apple in Hiya Vitamins.

We have not come across any clinical evidence that fruits and vegetables at such minuscule doses provide any health benefits, nor does the brand cite any.

The inactive ingredients in Hiya’s multivitamin are shown below:

This is where the brand really stands out compared to the competition, because there is only one additive ingredient we consider questionable from a health perspective.

As we discussed in our review of First Day Vitamins, flavoring additives may be unhealthy based on some clinical trial data.

Especially in a product marketed to children, we would prefer the brand to use whole fruits for flavoring instead of “natural flavors.”

Overall, we don’t currently recommend Hiya Vitamins due to the inclusion of natural flavors, but we consider this to be the healthiest children's multivitamin we've reviewed to date on Illuminate Health.

Hiya vs. Flintstones Vitamins

The ingredients in Flintstones Gummy Vitamins are shown below:

image source: https://www.flintstonesvitamins.com/products/complete-vitamin-gummies

This is one of the most popular multivitamins for children, and is marketed as “Pediatricians’ #1 Choice.”

Glucose syrup and sugar are two refined, caloric sweeteners, and a 2019 medical review found that “children are at a high risk of sugar overconsumption” and that intake of added sugars in excess is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity.

Citric acid is clinically shown to cause whole-body inflammation in some individuals, as we documented in our Olly Vitamins reviews article.

Natural flavor is also included, and we discussed our concerns regarding that ingredient in the ingredient analysis section.

Overall, we consider Hiya Vitamins to be significantly superior to Flintstones Vitamins and other commercial children’s multivitamins from a formulation standpoint, due mostly to its minimal additive ingredients.

Is Hiya False Advertising?

An independent testing laboratory we trust called ConsumerLab published a concerning report on their website in March of 2023.

The report claims that Hiya was running paid advertisements stating that ConsumerLab recommended their supplement(s), while ConsumerLab claims they never made such a recommendation:

“An ‘advertorial’ for Hiya Kids Daily Multivitamin appearing on the website ‘The Daily Post’ provided misinformation and suggested that ConsumerLab.com recommended this product, which is completely false. ConsumerLab has not evaluated any product from Hiya Health.”

Even if this was due to the actions of a third-party marketing agency, we consider this to be a red flag. Companies have a responsibility to ensure accurate advertising.

Hiya Vitamins Pros and Cons

Here are the pros and cons of Hiya as a brand in our opinion:

Pros:

• Better formulation than most children’s vitamins
• Natural colorants
• No refined sugar
• Multivitamins may benefit children with poor diets
• Multivitamins may benefit children with vitamin deficiencies

Cons:

• Brand may have engaged in false advertising
• Doesn't appear to be clinically tested
• Contains natural flavors
• Unclear if otherwise healthy children require multivitamins

Conclusion

Hiya is the best-quality children’s multivitamins brand we’ve reviewed to date on Illuminate Health.

The brand has a healthier formulation than commercial children’s vitamins like Flintstones Vitamins, due to the lack of refined sugar and citric acid.

We don’t currently recommend this vitamin brand due to the inclusion of natural flavors, and we recommend that parents consult their pediatrician prior to giving their kids vitamins, because supplementation should be individualized according to research studies cited in this article.

A concerning report suggests that Hiya Vitamins may have engaged in false advertising by claiming that an independent laboratory recommended their products. The laboratory refutes this claim.

If Hiya were to remove the flavoring additive(s) from their formulations, we would consider recommending this brand to parents who plan on purchasing multivitamins for their children.