Olly is a supplement brand that became popular for their gummy vitamins. They now sell many products across various supplement categories, but their vitamin gummies are still their most popular supplements.
But are Olly vitamins effectively formulated? Do they contain any unhealthy additives? Are the brand's other supplements like Sleep Gummies effectively formulated? And is Olly better or worse than popular vitamin supplement brands like Ritual?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients of some of Olly's most popular supplements (Sleep Gummies, Stress Gummies and Multivitamins) to give our take on whether or not they're likely to be effective, and whether or not they're healthy.
We'll also compare Olly to other popular vitamin supplement brands, in terms of formulation quality, to pick our winners (and losers).
Key takeaways:
- All supplements analyzed contained ingredients we consider unhealthy
- Capsule formulations are generally healthier than gummy vitamins
- We do not currently recommend Olly Vitamins
Olly Vitamins Review
The active ingredients in Olly Women's Multi are shown below:
image source: https://www.olly.com/
We know from medical research that multivitamin use is not associated with any positive health effects on a population level, so we typically don't recommend multivitamins to healthy individuals.
For patients with a documented vitamin deficiency, multivitamins may be beneficial.
Folic acid is used for vitamin B9, and this format is clinically shown to be associated with a (slight) increase in cancer risk, as we documented in our Ritual Vitamins review article.
The inactive ingredients in this supplement are shown below:
image source: https://www.olly.com/
Glucose syrup and sugar are refined forms of added sugar, which is associated with increased risk of obesity (when consumed in excess).
Because Americans already consume too much added sugar in diet, we typically recommend avoiding dietary supplements containing added sugar.
Citric acid is a preservative and flavor enhancer that can cause inflammatory reactions in the body according to a medical review published in the Toxicology Reports journal.
Overall, we do not currently recommend Olly Women's Multi due to the inclusion of folic acid, and the inactive ingredients highlighted above.
Olly Sleep Gummies Review
The active ingredients in Olly Sleep Gummies are shown below:
image source: https://www.olly.com/
L-theanine is the first listed active ingredient.
This amino acid is typically used for inducing relaxation, as it modulates alpha brain wave activity (similar to meditation). At only 100 milligrams (mg) in Olly Sleep, this ingredient may be underdosed.
We identified three clinical trials on l-theanine for sleep (1, 2, 3), and the lowest dose used in any of them was 200 mg/day, which is double the amount in Olly Sleep.
Melatonin is included at a 3 mg dose, and this is an effective dose for inducing sleep, according to a medical review published in the Nutrition Journal.
Melatonin is the most well-studied and non-toxic supplement for sleep.
Chamomile extract at 17 mg is the third ingredient, and this again appears to be significantly underdosed based on medical research.
We can’t find a single study on chamomile extract for sleep using a dose less than 200 mg, and that dosage is 11x of the amount included in Olly Sleep.
Passionflower extract is the fourth-listed ingredient, and also may be underdosed at 17 mg.
A clinical trial on passionflower extract for sleep used the lowest dose we could identify, which was 60 mg, and the researchers in that study even noted:
“The dosage of passionflower extracts [in this study] was relatively low, compared to commercially available products which mostly contain 250-900 mg of passionflower."
Lemon balm extract was shown to be effective for improving sleep in a clinical trial at a dosage of 600 mg, or 3800% as much as in Olly Sleep.
Added sugar and citric acid are included as inactive ingredients, as we documented in the previous Ingredient Analysis section why we recommend avoiding these ingredients.
Overall, we do not currently recommend Olly Sleep Gummies, because we consider the majority of active ingredients to be underdosed, and due to the two inactive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Olly vs. Popular Vitamin Brands
Here's how Olly compares to other popular vitamin supplement brands, in terms of formulation quality, in our opinion:
Ritual
Ritual's women's multivitamin is clinically proven to be effective, in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study.
This is the gold standard of supplement research.
We consider Ritual to be superior from a potential efficacy and a health standpoint.
Winner: Ritual
Standard Process
Standard Process vitamins are sold in capsule formats, without the unhealthy inactive ingredients in Olly vitamins.
There were no active ingredients in the two Standard Process formulations we analyzed which we considered to be unhealthy (like the folic acid in Olly Women's Multi).
We consider Standard Process to be the healthier choice.
Winner: Standard Process
MaryRuth's
Some of the liquid supplements are packaged in plastic, which is negative for health.
However, the formulations overall are higher-quality than Olly from a potential efficacy and safety standpoint.
Winner: MaryRuth's
Olly Stress Gummies Review
The active ingredients in Olly Goodbye Stress Gummies are shown below:
image source: https://www.olly.com/
GABA functions as a neurotransmitter in the brain, and can help the body manage stress, and its dose is 50 mg in Olly Stress Gummies.
A thorough review in the Frontiers in Neuroscience Journal found that the effective dose range of GABA for stress reduction was from 2.01 mg to 100 mg, so we consider this ingredient and dosage effective.
L-theanine is included at 50 mg. This seems significantly underdosed according to this medical review which concluded:
“Our findings suggest that supplementation of 200-400 mg/day of l-theanine may assist in the reduction of stress and anxiety…”.
Lemon balm extract is the final ingredient at a dose of 75 mg, which again appears significantly underdosed.
Examine reviewed over ten studies on lemon balm and stress, and concluded that the lowest therapeutic dose appears to be 300 mg.
Like the other Olly formulations analyzed, this one contains inactive ingredients we consider unhealthy: refined sugar, citric acid and natural flavors.
Overall, we consider Olly Stress Gummies to be potentially effective for stress relief, but we don't currently recommend it because of the three inactive ingredients we consider to be unhealthy.
Olly Probiotic Gummies Review
The ingredients in Olly Tropical Mango Probiotic Gummies are shown below:
image source: https://www.olly.com/
Bacillus coagulans is clinically shown to have "therapeutic effects on intestinal diseases."
We urge Olly to publish the specific probiotic strain (like Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856), as they have only published the probiotic species (Bacillus coagulans) on their Supplement Facts label.
Different probiotic strains within the same species can have different effects, and it's a sign of a high-quality supplement brand to publish the specific probiotic strain.
Added sugar is included at a dose of 4 grams (g), which we consider to be especially inappropriate in the context of a probiotic formulation, given that high-sugar diets appear to cause microbiome (gut) inflammation based on medical research.
Citric acid and natural flavor are also included in the inactive ingredients list.
Overall, we do not currently recommend Olly Probiotic Gummies due to the inactive ingredients highlighted above.
Olly Hair Vitamins Review
The active ingredients in Olly Ultra Strength Hair Softgels are shown below:
image source: https://www.olly.com/
Keratin is one of the structural proteins in hair, and is included at a 150 mg dose.
We can’t find any research suggesting this is an effective dose.
The only study we identified proving keratin supplementation improved hair quality used a dose of 500 mg.
Amla extract and silica are the two remaining active ingredients, and we can't identify any clinical studies showing them to be effective for hair health.
Natural flavor is included as an inactive ingredient, and is one we recommend avoiding.
Overall, we do not currently recommend Olly Ultra Strength Hair Softgels because we're unable to identify any potentially effective active ingredients, and due to the inclusion of natural flavor as an inactive ingredient.
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.
Olly Vitamins Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Sleep Gummies should support sleep quality
- Women's Multi contains some effectively-dosed active ingredients
- Probiotic Gummies contain a research-backed probiotic species
- Most formulations contained research-backed active ingredients
Cons:
- Supplements don't appear to be clinically tested
- All formulations analyzed contained unhealthy inactive ingredients
- Many formulations contained underdosed active ingredients
- Gummy supplements are generally less healthy than capsule supplements
- Less healthy than some competitors
