ASPARTAME, GMOs, & OTHER HARMFUL CHEMICALS FOUND IN CHILDREN’S VITAMIN
Source Article:
Top US Brand of Children's
Vitamins Contains Aspartame, GMOs, & Other Hazardous Chemicals
"The #1 Children's Vitamin
Brand in the US contains ingredients that most parents would never
intentionally expose their children to, so why aren't more opting for healthier
alternatives?
Kids’ vitamins are supposed to be
healthy, right? Well then, what's going on with Flintstones Vitamins, which
proudly claims to be "Pediatricians' #1 Choice"? Produced by the
global pharmaceutical corporation Bayer, this wildly success brand features a
shocking list of unhealthy ingredients, including:
Aspartame
Cupric Oxide
Coal tar artificial coloring
agents (FD&C Blue #2, Red #40, Yellow #6)
Zinc Oxide
Sorbitol
Ferrous Fumarate
Hydrogenated Oil (Soybean)
GMO Corn starch
On Bayer Health Science's
Flintstones product page designed for healthcare professionals they lead into
the product description with the following tidbit of information:
"82% of kids aren't eating
all of their veggies1. Without enough vegetables, kids may not be getting all
of the nutrients they need.
References: 1. Lorson BA,
Melgar-Quinonez HR, Taylor CA. Correlates of fruit and vegetable intakes in US
children. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009;109(3):474-478."
The implication? That Flintstones
vitamins somehow fill this nutritional void. But let's look a little closer at
some of these presumably healthy ingredients....
ASPARTAME
Aspartame is a synthetic
combination of the amino acids aspartic acid and l-phenylalanine, and is known
to convert into highly toxic methanol and formaldehyde in the body. Aspartame
has been linked to over 40 adverse health effects in the biomedical literature,
and has been shown to exhibit both neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity What
business does a chemical like this have doing in a children's vitamin,
especially when non-toxic, non-synthetic non-nutritive sweeteners like stevia
already exist?
CUPRIC OXIDE
Next, let's look closer at Cupric
Oxide, 2mg of which is included in each serving of Flinstone's Complete
chewable vitamins as a presumably 'nutritional' source of 'copper,' supplying
"100% of the Daily Value (Ages 4+), according to Flintstones Vitamins Web
site's Nutritional Info.[2]
But what is Cupric Oxide? A
nutrient or a chemical?
According to the European Union's
Dangerous Substance Directive, one of the main EU laws concerning chemical
safety, Cupric Oxide is listed as a Hazardous substance, classified as both
"Harmful (XN)" and "Dangerous for the environment" (N).
Consider that it has industrial applications as a pigment in ceramics, and as a
chemical in the production of rayon fabric and dry cell batteries. In may be
technically correct to call it a mineral, but should it be listed as a nutrient
in a children's vitamin? We think not.
COAL TAR ARTIFICIAL COLORING
AGENTS
A well-known side effect of using
synthetic dyes is attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. For direct access
to study abstracts on this topic view our Food Coloring research page. There is
also indication that the neurotoxicity of artificial food coloring agents
increase when combined with aspartame, making the combination of ingredients
in Flintstones even more concerning.
ZINC OXIDE
Each serving of Flinstones
Complete Chewable vitamins contain 12 mg of zinc oxide, which the manufacturer
claims delivers 75% of the Daily Value to children 2 & 3 years of age.
Widely used as a sun protection factor (SPF) in sunscreens, The EU's Dangerous Substance
Directive classifies it as an environmental Hazard, "Dangerous for the
environment (N)." How it can be dangerous to the environment, but not for
humans ingesting it, escapes me. One thing is for sure, if one is to ingest
supplemental zinc, or market it for use by children, it makes much more sense
using a form that is organically bound (i.e. 'chelated') to an amino acid like
glycine, as it will be more bioavailable and less toxic.
SORBITOL
Sorbitol is a synthetic sugar
substitute which is classified as a sugar alcohol. It can be argued that it has
no place in the human diet, much less in a child's. The ingestion of higher
amounts have been linked to gastrointestinal disturbances from abdominal pain
to more serious conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome.
FERROUS FUMARATE
The one clear warning on the
Flinstone's Web site concerns this chemical. While it is impossible to die from
consuming iron from food, e.g. spinach, ferrous fumarate is an industrial
mineral and not found in nature as food. In fact, ferrous fumarate is so toxic
that accidental overdose of products containing this form is "a leading
cause of fatal poisoning in children under 6." The manufacturer further
warns:
"Keep this product out of
reach of children. In case of accidental overdose, call a doctor or poison
control center immediately."
HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL
Finding hydrogenated oil in
anything marketed to children is absolutely unacceptable. These semi-synthetic
fatty acids incorporate into our tissues and have been linked to over a dozen
adverse health effects, from coronary artery disease to cancer, violent
behavior to fatty liver disease.
GMO CORN STARCH
While it can be argued that the
amount of GMO corn starch in this product is negligible, even irrelevant, we
disagree. It is important to hold accountable brands that refuse to label their
products honestly, especially when they contain ingredients that have been
produced through genetic modification. The 'vitamin C' listed as ascorbic acid
in Flintstones is likely also produced from GMO corn. Let's remember that
Bayer's Ag-biotech division, Bayer CropScience, poured $381,600 of cash into
defeating the proposition 37 GMO labeling bill in California. Parents have a
right to protect their children against the well-known dangers of genetically
modified foods and the agrichemicals that contaminate them, don't they? GMO
corn starch is GMO, plain and simple. We'd appreciate it if Bayer would label
their "vitamins" accordingly.
In summary, Bayer's Flintstone's
vitamin brand is far from a natural product, and the consumer should be aware
of the unintended, adverse health effects that may occur as a result of using
it."
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