Where can I buy SmartyPants?
You can buy SmartyPants through our website and at other major Internet retailers like Amazon.com, Drugstore.com and Diapers.com. We sell online so we can pair top shelf ingredients with affordable pricing, something that would be tougher to do if we sold at places like WholeFoods. We and most of our online retailers offer free shipping on all orders over $25. See our store here http://store.smartypants.com
What makes SmartyPants different from all the other vitamins?
SmartyPants is proud to combine a best-in-class multi-vitamin with top-of-the-line guaranteed toxin-free fish oils and the highest quality vitamin D to create the only Three-In-One Gummy available on the market. Our price actually saves you money -- if you had to buy the same quality individual components separately you would spend about twice what we charge per bottle. This is why we created SmartyPants in the first place, to give our own children (and ourselves) the best All-In-One supplement available anywhere at a reasonable price.
How are SmartyPants made?
SmartyPants sources our best-in-class nutrients and top-of-the line fish oil from leading nutritional manufacturers who are USP and GMP certified. We test every batch of our products for quality and purity using independent, third party Covance Labs. All our products meet or exceed California prop 65 and US FDA standards. SmartyPants are made in California according to Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP) safety standards. Additionally, because low quality fish oil can have contaminants like dioxin, PCB's, and mercury, we use only the the highest quality Omega 3 fish oil that meets or exceeds worldwide saftery standards, including those set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Saftey Authority, Health Canada, and the US FDA. Additionally, we only use fish oil from sustainable small fish sources. We do not cut corners in sourcing or manufacturing our products because we designed our product for own children (and for ourselves too!) and we want them to have only the best ingredients available on the market.
Why do use D3 when others use D2?
D3 is the form of vitamin D that is preferred by the human body and the one most recommended by health professionals. Please see our comprehensive research article into vitamin D for further information.
Why does the form of vitamin B-12 matter?
Vitamin B-12 is available commercially in two forms: Cyanocobalamin and methylcobalamin. It turns out there’s a big difference between the two, because methylcobalamin is the type of B vitamin used by your brain and nerves. Cyanocobalamin contains a bond with cyanide (a poison) that must be detoxified before it provides any health benefits. We prefer not to have cyanide molecules in our own children, so we left it out of the vitamin we developed for our and your kids, as well as for growunups who take our adult product.
Why do you use only small fish for your fish oil?
Because smaller fish are lower on the food chain, they bio-accumulate a small fraction of the toxins found in the larger fish used by most vitamin manufacturers. Fish like tuna and salmon can have much higher concentrations of environmental contaminants (PCBs, dioxin, mercury), and we don't want those things in our or our children's growing bodies. Our fish oil supplier is a USP certified facility that uses a vacuum filtration process to filter out any possible toxins that are present in the small fish and we are able to guarantee our fish oil is certified toxin-free through third-party laboratory testing. Also, we wanted to make a vitamin that was as planet friendly as it was kid friendly. Tuna populations are being fast depleted and small fish are considered the eco-friendly way to get your Omega3's. We only use sustainably harvested anchovy & sardine to source our omega 3 DHA and EPA, and SmartyPants are an excellent source of both of these important essential fatty acid fish oils.
SmartyPants look like candy; do they contain a lot of sugar?
The 5 grams of sugar in our serving size (8 grams in an adult serving) is just slightly more than a teaspoon (two teaspoons in an adult serving)-that's 80% less sugar and a glass of unsweetened apple juice. With the average American now thought to be consuming more than 150 grams of sugar a day (almost 40 teaspoons!), we believe that SmartyPants sugar content vs. nutrient load is a healthy solution. We use the minimum amount of sugar possible to address taste -- if the vitamins don't taste good, children won't eat them! Also, we always use only organic sweeteners and NEVER use genetically modified options (corn syrup, glucose syrup, high fructose corn syrup from GM crops), or synthetic and artificial options (Sucralose, aspartame) that we found on the ingredient lists of most other gummy vitamins on the market.
Are your vitamins vegetarian?
Because your body has an easier time utilizing the Omega 3's from fish oil (DHA and EPA) than it does using Omega 3's from vegetable sources which must be converted from their natural state into a form your body uses (ALA from flaxseed, walnuts, etc), we chose to put the more effective Omega 3 from fish oil in our vitamin. However, we realize some people eat according vegetarian and vegan principles and would prefer to avoid any animal products in their diet, so we are currently developing a vegetarian vitamin option that we hope to introduce in 2012. If you're interested in a vegetarian version of SmartyPants, you can sign up here to be alerted when we launch the product.
Why isn’t your product certified organic?
At this time fish oil is not able to be certified organic, so we can't claim to be entirely organic on our label because our all-in-one vitamin includes Omega-3's sourced from anchovy & sardine. We don't meet the % requirement (90% of volume) to claim the product is certified organic -- although we can claim that our ingredients are organic as we use exclusively organic cane sugar and tapioca.
Where do your ingredients come from?
Our ingredients are sourced from leading nutritional companies throughout the United States and Canada, who are USP and GMP verified. Our source materials are quality checked rigorously to ensure the quantities of nutrients on our labels can be found in every SmartyPants gummy we sell, and we always guarantee our fish oil is third-party laboratory tested to be toxin-free.
Additionally, every batch of all our products are tested for purity and levels by independent third party Covance Labs.
Are SmartyPants safe?
We make our vitamins and supplements safe for kids because our own kids take them! We kept those exceptionally high quality standards when we made our adult gummies as well. Every batch of all our products are rigourously tested by an independent third-party lab called Covance Labs. Our products meet or exceed all requirements set by California Prop 65 and the US FDA. We do not use any artificial dyes or flavors. We do not use any artificial sweeteners. We ONLY use NATURAL colors and flavors from natural sources (artificial dyes have been linked to behavior issues in children, among other things). We use organic cane sugar and organic tapioca.
Because low quality fish oil can contain dioxin, PCB's, and mercury, we rigorously test our Omega 3 fish oil to ensures it meets or exceeds stringent quality standards set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Safety, Health Canada, and the US FDA. We source our Omega 3DHA, and EPA from sustainable small fish sources so they're eco-friendly and don't have the same heavy metal, mercury or PCB issues that larger fish sources (such as salmon and tuna) often have. SmartyPants are an excellent source of Omega 3's without any of the environmental contaminant risks that come from eating fish, and they taste great!
Do I or my child really need a multi-vitamin?
Vitamins are not a magic bullet, but they are helpful to fill in the gaps when you or your child are not always able to eat a balanced meal.
We view our SmartyPants gummies as an insurance policy that ensures your or your children's bodies are not going to be deficient in the nutrients they need to thrive. We always recommend checking with your doctor or pediatrician before taking supplements or giving your child any supplements to make sure any specific deficiencies are being addressed. We encourage you to print our label and share it with your doctor and see how we measure up against other vitamins available on the market. You can also sign up for a free trial sample before you purchase a bottle, to see how you or your kids like the taste of our gummies.
Do children need to take 4 gummies per day?
We recommend 4 gummies a day to ensure your children have 100% or more of 7 essential vitamins and minerals, as well as enough Omega 3's to ensure healthy brain, skin and immune system development and function. 4 SmartyPants a day are an excellent source of Omega 3 oil to help your child thrive.
Are there overdose risks?
With any oil-based vitamin, like vitamins A, D, E and K, there is a risk of getting too much of a good thing. With vitamin D, we supply 100% of the RDI but many health care professionals are comfortable recommending vitamin D at doses 5 and even 10 times what SmartyPants provides. Vitamin A toxicity levels are thought to occur at around 100,000 IU a day and SmartyPants provides a tiny fraction of that. Vitamin E toxicity levels are not well established but are thought to occur around 1000 mg/day and again SmartyPants provides just a tiny fraction of that. It is virtually impossible to overdose on vitamins from food intake, and always following our recommended doses will eliminate any risk of overdose, even with long-term vitamin use.
Do adults need to take 6 gummies per day? And what if i want to take more than 6?
Our suggested serving size for grown ups (6) or for kids (4) provides 100% or more of the recommended daily intake of 7 or more essential vitamins and minerals, along with best-in-class Omega 3 oils, that are meant to help balance and enhance your already healthy diet. Some research suggests that you might benefit from increased doses of both vitamin D and Omega 3's, and if you wish to supplement beyond our product's nutrient levels you should do so under the guidance of a doctor or health care professional. We do not advise children to take more than 4 gummies a day, or adults to take more than 6 gummies a day -- to ensure the oil-based vitamins in our product remain well below possible toxicity thresholds.
Why doesn’t SmartyPants contain iron?
We had the choice of including either fish oil or iron, as the two are not compatible in a gummy vitamin (due to oxidation). We chose fish oil due to its superior effect on brain development and the lack of Omega 3 oils in the typical Western diet, along with the risks involved with getting Omega 3 from dietary sources (the mercury, heavy metals, PCBs, and dioxin that bioaccumulate in fish). However, iron is also a crucial nutrient for brain health, and we suggest (if iron is recommended by your pediatrician) you use a stand alone liquid product for iron supplementation. Another reason we didn't include iron -- iron is the leading cause of supplemental overdose in children, and we didn't feel good about providing a product that tasted great and yet could harm kids if they chose to sneak some (or a bottle) on the sly. We take safety very seriously as we made this product with our own children in mind.
Why does SmartyPants use organic sugar?
We prefer our own children avoid having any genetically modified ingredients in their diet whenever possible (ie no corn syrup, glucose syrup from corn, high fructose corn syrup from GM crops). We especially don't want them ingesting synthetic artificial sweeteners (Sucralose, aspartame). And with the recent FDA approval of genetically modified sugar beets, we would prefer to be totally safe and use an organic sugar source, to keep all possible GM ingredients out of our own children's vitamin. The GM corn and soy industries refuse to conduct ANY long-term safety studies on their crops, and as long as these studies remain a question mark we prefer to avoid any possible heath damage that GM crops might cause to our children or yours.
Why does SmartyPants use DHA and EPA from small fish only? Why is that more eco-friendly?
Small fish are harvested in a sustainable way, ensuring production will not lead to extinctions or the collapse of ecosystems. Large fish harvesting (tuna, salmon) are now threatening some species with extinction, and we want our company to be as planet friendly as it can be. SmartyPants is an excellent source of Omega 3's, without any risk of environmental toxins (we are third-party laboratory verified to be toxin-free), and without adding to the serious problem of overfishing in our oceans. That way you can feel good about every gummy you and your children eat, just like we do.
Why don’t SmartyPants vitamins contain calcium?
Zinc and calcium can interfere with each other's absorption, and since many foods are now calcium-fortified, especially products manufactured for children, we decided to focus on zinc. It's estimated that 75% of people in Western nations are deficient in zinc, and this mineral is essential for maintaining a healthy nervous system and immune system. Zinc also helps facilitate new cell growth, which is especially important in a child's rapidly growing body. SmartyPants for Kids provides 29% of the RDI for Zinc and our adult version provides over 45% of the daily RDI for Zinc.
Why does Smarty Pants contain such a large dosage of vitamin B-12?
Vitamin B-12 is poorly absorbed by the human body due to the large size of the vitamin molecule and the necessity of bonding with intrinsic factor found in the stomach (studies show that intrinsic factor is deficient in many people for a variety of reasons). For this reason, only a fraction of the B-12 on our label is actually absorbed through the intestines, making the larger dosage necessary to receive any benefit at all. This is why you see higher levels of B-12 in many high quality multi-vitamins. B-12 is a water soluble vitamin -- so your body is able to excrete whatever excess is not used -- which addresses any concerns about reaching the upper toxicity limit of vitamin B-12.
What does GMP Certified mean?
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) is a series of stringent quality control guidelines designed to ensure products are produced in a manner that safeguards the health of the consumer. This certification is issued by the FDA. We use only GMP certified labs for the production of SmartyPants, which means you can trust our vitamins have been produced to the highest standards on the market. Our fish oil supplier's laboratory is also USP certified, a quality control certificate that is considered the gold standard in the supplement industry.
What is Vitamin Angels and how does my purchase of SmartyPants help?
Vitamin Angels's mission is to mobilize and deploy private sector resources to advance availability, access and use of micronutrients, especially vitamin A, by newborns, infants and children in need. Vitamin Angels reduces child mortality and childhood blindness worldwide by connecting essential nutrients, especially vitamin A, with infants and children under five. Essential nutrients enable young immune systems to fight infectious diseases, helping children attain good health and the opportunity to lead meaningful and productive lives. SmartyPants is proud to donate a one-for-one nutrient grant to Vitamin Angels for every bottle we sell. Go ahead- be a SmartyPants Angel!
Do you offer a 100% Money-back Guarantee?
Yes, just return any unused portion of your purchase for any reason to us for a full refund. Please see our address and contact info here.
Does SmartyPants help with ADD and ADHD?
The synthetic dyes and colors found in many products (especially vitamins) marketed to children have been positively linked to ADD and ADHD for many years through independent research, and these ingredients have been banned in children's products in the UK. But despite the growing scholarly research into the connection between these ingredients and these afflictions, the US FDA has yet to act. Recently, however, the FDA announced it was taking a closer look at the connection between synthetic dyes and children's health. We prefer not to take any chances and are not waiting for the FDA to act -- we left these controversial ingredients out of our product, so if your child suffers from ADD or ADHD, switching to SmartyPants may help address these issues. The Omega 3 oils in SmartyPants are also positively linked to healthy brain growth and overall brain health through hundreds of scientific papers going back many years, and may also play an important role in combating ADD and ADHD as well.
Can I give this product to my child if he/she is under three years of age?
Because of a risk of choking, we advise children under the age of three not to consume our gummies. Some parents cut up SmartyPants into smaller sizes for children younger than three years old, but we can't advise you that this will totally eliminate a risk of choking in a child under three years old.
Can Parents take SmartyPants too?
SmartyPants are now made for grownups too! Please click to see all about our product for adults.
Is this product safe to take for children or adults with allergies?
Any children or adults with known fish allergies should consult with a qualified health care professional before taking our product as our product does contain Omega 3 powder derived from small fish (though SmartyPants does not contain the more allergenic fish protein). The vitamins and minerals in our product are not known to be allergenic. SmartyPants is free of yeast, wheat, milk, eggs, gluten, salt, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, artificial colors, artificial flavors, or salicylate s and are produced in a certified allergen-free facility.
Are your products free of contaminants?
We test every batch of our vitamins using an independent third party lab called Covance Labs. Our gummies are always in full compliance with California's Proposition 65 to ensure you and your children are only getting the best vitamins and minerals available on the market.
Our fish oils are also processed in a certified USP laboratory to remove contaminants like dioxin, PCB's, and mercury. They are then rigorously third-party tested to assure they are always toxin-free and meet or exceed quality and safety standards worldwide, including those set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Saftey Authority, Health Canada, and the US FDA.
What is the source of lactic acid in this product?
The lactic acid in all of our products comes from sucrose.
What is the recommended daily intake of Vitamin A?
Vitamin A deficiency diminishes your body's ability to fight infections, so it's critical to get enough of this vitamin to maintain a vibrant immune system. However, since vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin, it can potentially build up in the body to toxic levels. For this reason we decided to include enough vitamin A to enhance a well-balanced diet, not replace a healthy diet. Our DV for vitamin A for children 3 years old is 44%, and for children 4 and over is 22%, so you never have to worry about vitamin A toxicity with SmartyPants as long as you and your child are eating a balanced diet and following our dosing recommendation.
Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for Vitamin A as Preformed Vitamin A (Retinol Activity Equivalents)
Life Stage Age Males: mcg/day (IU/day) Females: mcg/day (IU/day)
Children 1-3 years 300 (1,000 IU) 300 (1,000 IU)
Children 4-8 years 400 (1,333 IU) 400 (1,333 IU)
Children 9-13 years 600 (2,000 IU) 600 (2,000 IU)
Adolescents 14-18 years 900 (3,000 IU) 700 (2,333 IU)
In January 2001, the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Institute of Medicine set the tolerable upper level (UL) of vitamin A intake for adults at 3,000 mcg (10,000 IU)/day of preformed vitamin A (21).
Tolerable Upper Level of Intake (UL) for Preformed Vitamin A (Retinol)
Age Group UPPER LIMIT in mcg/day (IU/day)
Children 1-3 years 600 (2,000 IU)
Children 4-8 years 900 (3,000 IU)
Children 9-13 years 1,700 (5,667 IU)
Adolescents 14-18 years 2,800 (9,333 IU)
Is there Lead in SmartyPants?
Lead is a naturally occurring mineral found in the water, soil, and air, as well as in many every day foods and botanicals, and you and your children come into contact with lead every day simply by breathing. Any naturally occurring lead in our product is part of the food matrix contained in our botanical materials and SmartyPants has the lowest detectable lead level available on the market. In short, it is not possible to entirely avoid lead in the modern world. However, we are committed to rigorously third-party testing for not just lead, but for all contaminants, and SmartyPants is at all times well within compliance with Prop 65. We feel great about giving SmartyPants to our own children and taking it ourselves.
How do I know SmartyPants's fish oil products are pure?
Our fish oil manufacturer uses a sealed vacuum filtration process in their USP certified lab to ensure maximum removal of all toxins like dioxin, PCB's, and mercury from our sustainable small fish oil. All our fish oil is third-party laboratory tested to guarantee purity and meets or exceeds worldwide purity standards set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Health Canada, and the US FDA, so you can be assured that we are as concerned about keeping environmental toxins out of our children and our own bodies as you are.
Additionally, every batch of our products are tested for purity by independent thrid party Covance Labs and are California Prop 65 compliant.
Does SmartyPants have any environmental toxins like mercury, lead, PCBs, or dioxin?
Every batch of our vitamins are rigorously third-party tested by Covance Labs for purity and efficacy, so what you see on the label is what you and your children get in your vitamin. Our fish oil is manufactured at a USP certified lab that meets or exceeds worldwide purity and toxin-removal standards dioxin, PCB's, and mercury set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Health Canada, and the US FDA. Our vitamins are also at all times compliant with California's Proposition 65, which guarantees our product meets the highest standards on the market.
What is the difference between fat soluble and water soluble vitamins?
Fat soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E and K) store in your body's fat cells and can accumulate to toxic levels that can be detrimental to good health. This is why it's critically important to get only what your body needs from a supplement when it comes to these vitamins. With SmartyPants you never have to worry about getting too much of a good thing, because our vitamins taken in the recommended dosage have been designed to enhance a well balanced diet, not replace it. Water soluble vitamins, on the other hand, are able to pass through your body unused if they are not needed, so you don't have to worry about an overdose of water soluble vitamins.
Are SmartyPants gluten-free? wheat free? dairy free?
Yes, we are always free of gluten, wheat and dairy. All of our products contain no yeast, wheat, milk, eggs, gluten, salt, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, artificial colors, artificial flavors, or salicylate's.
Why does SmartyPants use sugar instead of stevia or artificial sweeteners?
Artificial sweeteners have been linked to numerous health issues for many years and we prefer not to include this ingredient because we don't want our own children ingesting artificial sweeteners. Sugar is actually thought by some health care professionals to be a complimentary delivery vehicle for vitamins. The amount of organic sugar included in one serving of SmartyPants is just over one teaspoon that's about 80% less than a glass of unsweetened apple juice.
Where are SmartyPants made?
SmartyPants are manufactured in a GMP certified facility in California, and are always compliant with strict Proposition 65 guidelines.
What is the difference between sugar and high fructose corn syrup?
High fructose corn syrup is a man-made sweetener that has been linked to many health issues, including the obesity crisis currently afflicting the US. Corn syrup is also a genetically modified ingredient, since the vast majority of corn grown in the US is now GM. With GM organisms now approved by the FDA for sugar beets, we decided to include only organically derived cane sugar for SmartyPants, ensuring you will never find a GM organism in SmartyPants.
Why did you pick the nutrients found in SmartyPants?
Our basic philosophy is that vitamins are a supplement to a healthy diet. We believe the best way to get nutrients is through eating well. But, since it is very difficult to get all the nutrients you or your kids need through diet alone, we designed SmartyPants to focus on hard-to-get nutrients, such as recommended amounts of Vitamin D, B vitamins, and Oomega 3's. We believe we have included the optimal combination of vitamins, minerals and healthy oils to round our a healthy diet so that your body can thrive. Our whole family takes SmartyPants ourselves, so we stand behind every bottle we sell with the guarantee that it meets our own personal (high) standards. Please see our informative research articles covering all the separate vitamins and minerals included in SmartyPants.
What are the benefits of your monthly autoship program? Can I easily cancel my monthly shipments of SmartyPants?
Since we are all busy parents and step-parents, we understand that one less thing to think about is a good thing. The monthly autoship program also means a lower per bottle price. Yes, you can cancel at any time and for any reason. There is no cost or penalty for cancelling your autoship program. Cancellation is easy: just email us and let us know you want to stop receiving SmartyPants. If you cancel after your ship date for the current month, we will cancel your order for the following month.
Do you know what's in your child's vitamin?
Here at SmartyPants a lot of thought has gone into what ingredients belong in the vitamins we feed to children. More and more we heard that Omega 3 and Vitamin D might be key nutrients all our children, despite our best efforts, were deficient in. In fact, the main reason we started our company was because we were not satisfied with the choices we all faced as parents, entrepreneurs and health care practitioners trying to find a suitable children’s supplement.
So we’ve compiled what we think are the Top 6 questions worth asking when choosing a supplement for your child:
- Did you know that vitamins come in different forms and that this form can make all the difference in the quality of the vitamin and your child’s ability to absorb it?
- Do you know what form of vitamin D and B12 your children are taking?
- Where does your Omega 3 supplement source its fish oil from? How much DHA vs. EPA Omega 3 Fatty Acids do they contain?
- How much sugar would your children be ingesting when getting 100% RDI of vitamin D, fish oil and other traditional multi-vitamin ingredients if they must take multiple gummies? And why aren’t the most important ingredients commonly bundled into one vitamin?
- Where does the sweetener come from?
- Does the product contain artificial colors or dyes?
Read more to see what our thoughts are on these questions.
Where can I buy SmartyPants?
What makes SmartyPants different from all the other vitamins?
SmartyPants is proud to combine a best-in-class multi-vitamin with top-of-the-line guaranteed toxin-free fish oils and the highest quality vitamin D to create the only Three-In-One Gummy available on the market. Our price actually saves you money -- if you had to buy the same quality individual components separately you would spend about twice what we charge per bottle. This is why we created SmartyPants in the first place, to give our own children (and ourselves) the best All-In-One supplement available anywhere at a reasonable price.
How are SmartyPants made?
SmartyPants sources our best-in-class nutrients and top-of-the line fish oil from leading nutritional manufacturers who are USP and GMP certified. We test every batch of our products for quality and purity using independent, third party Covance Labs. All our products meet or exceed California prop 65 and US FDA standards. SmartyPants are made in California according to Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP) safety standards. Additionally, because low quality fish oil can have contaminants like dioxin, PCB's, and mercury, we use only the the highest quality Omega 3 fish oil that meets or exceeds worldwide saftery standards, including those set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Saftey Authority, Health Canada, and the US FDA. Additionally, we only use fish oil from sustainable small fish sources. We do not cut corners in sourcing or manufacturing our products because we designed our product for own children (and for ourselves too!) and we want them to have only the best ingredients available on the market.
Why do use D3 when others use D2?
D3 is the form of vitamin D that is preferred by the human body and the one most recommended by health professionals. Please see our comprehensive research article into vitamin D for further information.
Why does the form of vitamin B-12 matter?
Why do you use only small fish for your fish oil?
Because smaller fish are lower on the food chain, they bio-accumulate a small fraction of the toxins found in the larger fish used by most vitamin manufacturers. Fish like tuna and salmon can have much higher concentrations of environmental contaminants (PCBs, dioxin, mercury), and we don't want those things in our or our children's growing bodies. Our fish oil supplier is a USP certified facility that uses a vacuum filtration process to filter out any possible toxins that are present in the small fish and we are able to guarantee our fish oil is certified toxin-free through third-party laboratory testing. Also, we wanted to make a vitamin that was as planet friendly as it was kid friendly. Tuna populations are being fast depleted and small fish are considered the eco-friendly way to get your Omega3's. We only use sustainably harvested anchovy & sardine to source our omega 3 DHA and EPA, and SmartyPants are an excellent source of both of these important essential fatty acid fish oils.
SmartyPants look like candy; do they contain a lot of sugar?
The 5 grams of sugar in our serving size (8 grams in an adult serving) is just slightly more than a teaspoon (two teaspoons in an adult serving)-that's 80% less sugar and a glass of unsweetened apple juice. With the average American now thought to be consuming more than 150 grams of sugar a day (almost 40 teaspoons!), we believe that SmartyPants sugar content vs. nutrient load is a healthy solution. We use the minimum amount of sugar possible to address taste -- if the vitamins don't taste good, children won't eat them! Also, we always use only organic sweeteners and NEVER use genetically modified options (corn syrup, glucose syrup, high fructose corn syrup from GM crops), or synthetic and artificial options (Sucralose, aspartame) that we found on the ingredient lists of most other gummy vitamins on the market.
Are your vitamins vegetarian?
Because your body has an easier time utilizing the Omega 3's from fish oil (DHA and EPA) than it does using Omega 3's from vegetable sources which must be converted from their natural state into a form your body uses (ALA from flaxseed, walnuts, etc), we chose to put the more effective Omega 3 from fish oil in our vitamin. However, we realize some people eat according vegetarian and vegan principles and would prefer to avoid any animal products in their diet, so we are currently developing a vegetarian vitamin option that we hope to introduce in 2012. If you're interested in a vegetarian version of SmartyPants, you can sign up here to be alerted when we launch the product.
Why isn’t your product certified organic?
At this time fish oil is not able to be certified organic, so we can't claim to be entirely organic on our label because our all-in-one vitamin includes Omega-3's sourced from anchovy & sardine. We don't meet the % requirement (90% of volume) to claim the product is certified organic -- although we can claim that our ingredients are organic as we use exclusively organic cane sugar and tapioca.
Where do your ingredients come from?
Our ingredients are sourced from leading nutritional companies throughout the United States and Canada, who are USP and GMP verified. Our source materials are quality checked rigorously to ensure the quantities of nutrients on our labels can be found in every SmartyPants gummy we sell, and we always guarantee our fish oil is third-party laboratory tested to be toxin-free.
Additionally, every batch of all our products are tested for purity and levels by independent third party Covance Labs.
Are SmartyPants safe?
We make our vitamins and supplements safe for kids because our own kids take them! We kept those exceptionally high quality standards when we made our adult gummies as well. Every batch of all our products are rigourously tested by an independent third-party lab called Covance Labs. Our products meet or exceed all requirements set by California Prop 65 and the US FDA. We do not use any artificial dyes or flavors. We do not use any artificial sweeteners. We ONLY use NATURAL colors and flavors from natural sources (artificial dyes have been linked to behavior issues in children, among other things). We use organic cane sugar and organic tapioca.
Because low quality fish oil can contain dioxin, PCB's, and mercury, we rigorously test our Omega 3 fish oil to ensures it meets or exceeds stringent quality standards set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Safety, Health Canada, and the US FDA. We source our Omega 3DHA, and EPA from sustainable small fish sources so they're eco-friendly and don't have the same heavy metal, mercury or PCB issues that larger fish sources (such as salmon and tuna) often have. SmartyPants are an excellent source of Omega 3's without any of the environmental contaminant risks that come from eating fish, and they taste great!
Do I or my child really need a multi-vitamin?
Vitamins are not a magic bullet, but they are helpful to fill in the gaps when you or your child are not always able to eat a balanced meal.
We view our SmartyPants gummies as an insurance policy that ensures your or your children's bodies are not going to be deficient in the nutrients they need to thrive. We always recommend checking with your doctor or pediatrician before taking supplements or giving your child any supplements to make sure any specific deficiencies are being addressed. We encourage you to print our label and share it with your doctor and see how we measure up against other vitamins available on the market. You can also sign up for a free trial sample before you purchase a bottle, to see how you or your kids like the taste of our gummies.
Do children need to take 4 gummies per day?
We recommend 4 gummies a day to ensure your children have 100% or more of 7 essential vitamins and minerals, as well as enough Omega 3's to ensure healthy brain, skin and immune system development and function. 4 SmartyPants a day are an excellent source of Omega 3 oil to help your child thrive.
Are there overdose risks?
With any oil-based vitamin, like vitamins A, D, E and K, there is a risk of getting too much of a good thing. With vitamin D, we supply 100% of the RDI but many health care professionals are comfortable recommending vitamin D at doses 5 and even 10 times what SmartyPants provides. Vitamin A toxicity levels are thought to occur at around 100,000 IU a day and SmartyPants provides a tiny fraction of that. Vitamin E toxicity levels are not well established but are thought to occur around 1000 mg/day and again SmartyPants provides just a tiny fraction of that. It is virtually impossible to overdose on vitamins from food intake, and always following our recommended doses will eliminate any risk of overdose, even with long-term vitamin use.
Do adults need to take 6 gummies per day? And what if i want to take more than 6?
Our suggested serving size for grown ups (6) or for kids (4) provides 100% or more of the recommended daily intake of 7 or more essential vitamins and minerals, along with best-in-class Omega 3 oils, that are meant to help balance and enhance your already healthy diet. Some research suggests that you might benefit from increased doses of both vitamin D and Omega 3's, and if you wish to supplement beyond our product's nutrient levels you should do so under the guidance of a doctor or health care professional. We do not advise children to take more than 4 gummies a day, or adults to take more than 6 gummies a day -- to ensure the oil-based vitamins in our product remain well below possible toxicity thresholds.
Why doesn’t SmartyPants contain iron?
We had the choice of including either fish oil or iron, as the two are not compatible in a gummy vitamin (due to oxidation). We chose fish oil due to its superior effect on brain development and the lack of Omega 3 oils in the typical Western diet, along with the risks involved with getting Omega 3 from dietary sources (the mercury, heavy metals, PCBs, and dioxin that bioaccumulate in fish). However, iron is also a crucial nutrient for brain health, and we suggest (if iron is recommended by your pediatrician) you use a stand alone liquid product for iron supplementation. Another reason we didn't include iron -- iron is the leading cause of supplemental overdose in children, and we didn't feel good about providing a product that tasted great and yet could harm kids if they chose to sneak some (or a bottle) on the sly. We take safety very seriously as we made this product with our own children in mind.
Why does SmartyPants use organic sugar?
We prefer our own children avoid having any genetically modified ingredients in their diet whenever possible (ie no corn syrup, glucose syrup from corn, high fructose corn syrup from GM crops). We especially don't want them ingesting synthetic artificial sweeteners (Sucralose, aspartame). And with the recent FDA approval of genetically modified sugar beets, we would prefer to be totally safe and use an organic sugar source, to keep all possible GM ingredients out of our own children's vitamin. The GM corn and soy industries refuse to conduct ANY long-term safety studies on their crops, and as long as these studies remain a question mark we prefer to avoid any possible heath damage that GM crops might cause to our children or yours.
Why does SmartyPants use DHA and EPA from small fish only? Why is that more eco-friendly?
Small fish are harvested in a sustainable way, ensuring production will not lead to extinctions or the collapse of ecosystems. Large fish harvesting (tuna, salmon) are now threatening some species with extinction, and we want our company to be as planet friendly as it can be. SmartyPants is an excellent source of Omega 3's, without any risk of environmental toxins (we are third-party laboratory verified to be toxin-free), and without adding to the serious problem of overfishing in our oceans. That way you can feel good about every gummy you and your children eat, just like we do.
Why don’t SmartyPants vitamins contain calcium?
Zinc and calcium can interfere with each other's absorption, and since many foods are now calcium-fortified, especially products manufactured for children, we decided to focus on zinc. It's estimated that 75% of people in Western nations are deficient in zinc, and this mineral is essential for maintaining a healthy nervous system and immune system. Zinc also helps facilitate new cell growth, which is especially important in a child's rapidly growing body. SmartyPants for Kids provides 29% of the RDI for Zinc and our adult version provides over 45% of the daily RDI for Zinc.
Why does Smarty Pants contain such a large dosage of vitamin B-12?
Vitamin B-12 is poorly absorbed by the human body due to the large size of the vitamin molecule and the necessity of bonding with intrinsic factor found in the stomach (studies show that intrinsic factor is deficient in many people for a variety of reasons). For this reason, only a fraction of the B-12 on our label is actually absorbed through the intestines, making the larger dosage necessary to receive any benefit at all. This is why you see higher levels of B-12 in many high quality multi-vitamins. B-12 is a water soluble vitamin -- so your body is able to excrete whatever excess is not used -- which addresses any concerns about reaching the upper toxicity limit of vitamin B-12.
What does GMP Certified mean?
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) is a series of stringent quality control guidelines designed to ensure products are produced in a manner that safeguards the health of the consumer. This certification is issued by the FDA. We use only GMP certified labs for the production of SmartyPants, which means you can trust our vitamins have been produced to the highest standards on the market. Our fish oil supplier's laboratory is also USP certified, a quality control certificate that is considered the gold standard in the supplement industry.
What is Vitamin Angels and how does my purchase of SmartyPants help?
Vitamin Angels's mission is to mobilize and deploy private sector resources to advance availability, access and use of micronutrients, especially vitamin A, by newborns, infants and children in need. Vitamin Angels reduces child mortality and childhood blindness worldwide by connecting essential nutrients, especially vitamin A, with infants and children under five. Essential nutrients enable young immune systems to fight infectious diseases, helping children attain good health and the opportunity to lead meaningful and productive lives. SmartyPants is proud to donate a one-for-one nutrient grant to Vitamin Angels for every bottle we sell. Go ahead- be a SmartyPants Angel!
Do you offer a 100% Money-back Guarantee?
Yes, just return any unused portion of your purchase for any reason to us for a full refund. Please see our address and contact info here.
Does SmartyPants help with ADD and ADHD?
The synthetic dyes and colors found in many products (especially vitamins) marketed to children have been positively linked to ADD and ADHD for many years through independent research, and these ingredients have been banned in children's products in the UK. But despite the growing scholarly research into the connection between these ingredients and these afflictions, the US FDA has yet to act. Recently, however, the FDA announced it was taking a closer look at the connection between synthetic dyes and children's health. We prefer not to take any chances and are not waiting for the FDA to act -- we left these controversial ingredients out of our product, so if your child suffers from ADD or ADHD, switching to SmartyPants may help address these issues. The Omega 3 oils in SmartyPants are also positively linked to healthy brain growth and overall brain health through hundreds of scientific papers going back many years, and may also play an important role in combating ADD and ADHD as well.
Can I give this product to my child if he/she is under three years of age?
Because of a risk of choking, we advise children under the age of three not to consume our gummies. Some parents cut up SmartyPants into smaller sizes for children younger than three years old, but we can't advise you that this will totally eliminate a risk of choking in a child under three years old.
Can Parents take SmartyPants too?
SmartyPants are now made for grownups too! Please click to see all about our product for adults.
Is this product safe to take for children or adults with allergies?
Any children or adults with known fish allergies should consult with a qualified health care professional before taking our product as our product does contain Omega 3 powder derived from small fish (though SmartyPants does not contain the more allergenic fish protein). The vitamins and minerals in our product are not known to be allergenic. SmartyPants is free of yeast, wheat, milk, eggs, gluten, salt, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, artificial colors, artificial flavors, or salicylate s and are produced in a certified allergen-free facility.
Are your products free of contaminants?
We test every batch of our vitamins using an independent third party lab called Covance Labs. Our gummies are always in full compliance with California's Proposition 65 to ensure you and your children are only getting the best vitamins and minerals available on the market.
Our fish oils are also processed in a certified USP laboratory to remove contaminants like dioxin, PCB's, and mercury. They are then rigorously third-party tested to assure they are always toxin-free and meet or exceed quality and safety standards worldwide, including those set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Saftey Authority, Health Canada, and the US FDA.
What is the source of lactic acid in this product?
The lactic acid in all of our products comes from sucrose.
What is the recommended daily intake of Vitamin A?
Vitamin A deficiency diminishes your body's ability to fight infections, so it's critical to get enough of this vitamin to maintain a vibrant immune system. However, since vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin, it can potentially build up in the body to toxic levels. For this reason we decided to include enough vitamin A to enhance a well-balanced diet, not replace a healthy diet. Our DV for vitamin A for children 3 years old is 44%, and for children 4 and over is 22%, so you never have to worry about vitamin A toxicity with SmartyPants as long as you and your child are eating a balanced diet and following our dosing recommendation.
Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for Vitamin A as Preformed Vitamin A (Retinol Activity Equivalents)
Life Stage Age Males: mcg/day (IU/day) Females: mcg/day (IU/day)
Children 1-3 years 300 (1,000 IU) 300 (1,000 IU)
Children 4-8 years 400 (1,333 IU) 400 (1,333 IU)
Children 9-13 years 600 (2,000 IU) 600 (2,000 IU)
Adolescents 14-18 years 900 (3,000 IU) 700 (2,333 IU)
In January 2001, the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Institute of Medicine set the tolerable upper level (UL) of vitamin A intake for adults at 3,000 mcg (10,000 IU)/day of preformed vitamin A (21).
Tolerable Upper Level of Intake (UL) for Preformed Vitamin A (Retinol)
Age Group UPPER LIMIT in mcg/day (IU/day)
Children 1-3 years 600 (2,000 IU)
Children 4-8 years 900 (3,000 IU)
Children 9-13 years 1,700 (5,667 IU)
Adolescents 14-18 years 2,800 (9,333 IU)
Is there Lead in SmartyPants?
Lead is a naturally occurring mineral found in the water, soil, and air, as well as in many every day foods and botanicals, and you and your children come into contact with lead every day simply by breathing. Any naturally occurring lead in our product is part of the food matrix contained in our botanical materials and SmartyPants has the lowest detectable lead level available on the market. In short, it is not possible to entirely avoid lead in the modern world. However, we are committed to rigorously third-party testing for not just lead, but for all contaminants, and SmartyPants is at all times well within compliance with Prop 65. We feel great about giving SmartyPants to our own children and taking it ourselves.
How do I know SmartyPants's fish oil products are pure?
Our fish oil manufacturer uses a sealed vacuum filtration process in their USP certified lab to ensure maximum removal of all toxins like dioxin, PCB's, and mercury from our sustainable small fish oil. All our fish oil is third-party laboratory tested to guarantee purity and meets or exceeds worldwide purity standards set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Health Canada, and the US FDA, so you can be assured that we are as concerned about keeping environmental toxins out of our children and our own bodies as you are.
Additionally, every batch of our products are tested for purity by independent thrid party Covance Labs and are California Prop 65 compliant.
Does SmartyPants have any environmental toxins like mercury, lead, PCBs, or dioxin?
Every batch of our vitamins are rigorously third-party tested by Covance Labs for purity and efficacy, so what you see on the label is what you and your children get in your vitamin. Our fish oil is manufactured at a USP certified lab that meets or exceeds worldwide purity and toxin-removal standards dioxin, PCB's, and mercury set by the European Union, Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Health Canada, and the US FDA. Our vitamins are also at all times compliant with California's Proposition 65, which guarantees our product meets the highest standards on the market.
What is the difference between fat soluble and water soluble vitamins?
Fat soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E and K) store in your body's fat cells and can accumulate to toxic levels that can be detrimental to good health. This is why it's critically important to get only what your body needs from a supplement when it comes to these vitamins. With SmartyPants you never have to worry about getting too much of a good thing, because our vitamins taken in the recommended dosage have been designed to enhance a well balanced diet, not replace it. Water soluble vitamins, on the other hand, are able to pass through your body unused if they are not needed, so you don't have to worry about an overdose of water soluble vitamins.
Are SmartyPants gluten-free? wheat free? dairy free?
Yes, we are always free of gluten, wheat and dairy. All of our products contain no yeast, wheat, milk, eggs, gluten, salt, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, artificial colors, artificial flavors, or salicylate's.
Why does SmartyPants use sugar instead of stevia or artificial sweeteners?
Artificial sweeteners have been linked to numerous health issues for many years and we prefer not to include this ingredient because we don't want our own children ingesting artificial sweeteners. Sugar is actually thought by some health care professionals to be a complimentary delivery vehicle for vitamins. The amount of organic sugar included in one serving of SmartyPants is just over one teaspoon that's about 80% less than a glass of unsweetened apple juice.
Where are SmartyPants made?
SmartyPants are manufactured in a GMP certified facility in California, and are always compliant with strict Proposition 65 guidelines.
What is the difference between sugar and high fructose corn syrup?
High fructose corn syrup is a man-made sweetener that has been linked to many health issues, including the obesity crisis currently afflicting the US. Corn syrup is also a genetically modified ingredient, since the vast majority of corn grown in the US is now GM. With GM organisms now approved by the FDA for sugar beets, we decided to include only organically derived cane sugar for SmartyPants, ensuring you will never find a GM organism in SmartyPants.
Why did you pick the nutrients found in SmartyPants?
Our basic philosophy is that vitamins are a supplement to a healthy diet. We believe the best way to get nutrients is through eating well. But, since it is very difficult to get all the nutrients you or your kids need through diet alone, we designed SmartyPants to focus on hard-to-get nutrients, such as recommended amounts of Vitamin D, B vitamins, and Oomega 3's. We believe we have included the optimal combination of vitamins, minerals and healthy oils to round our a healthy diet so that your body can thrive. Our whole family takes SmartyPants ourselves, so we stand behind every bottle we sell with the guarantee that it meets our own personal (high) standards. Please see our informative research articles covering all the separate vitamins and minerals included in SmartyPants.
What are the benefits of your monthly autoship program? Can I easily cancel my monthly shipments of SmartyPants?
Since we are all busy parents and step-parents, we understand that one less thing to think about is a good thing. The monthly autoship program also means a lower per bottle price. Yes, you can cancel at any time and for any reason. There is no cost or penalty for cancelling your autoship program. Cancellation is easy: just email us and let us know you want to stop receiving SmartyPants. If you cancel after your ship date for the current month, we will cancel your order for the following month.
Do you know what's in your child's vitamin?
So we’ve compiled what we think are the Top 6 questions worth asking when choosing a supplement for your child:
- Did you know that vitamins come in different forms and that this form can make all the difference in the quality of the vitamin and your child’s ability to absorb it?
- Do you know what form of vitamin D and B12 your children are taking?
- Where does your Omega 3 supplement source its fish oil from? How much DHA vs. EPA Omega 3 Fatty Acids do they contain?
- How much sugar would your children be ingesting when getting 100% RDI of vitamin D, fish oil and other traditional multi-vitamin ingredients if they must take multiple gummies? And why aren’t the most important ingredients commonly bundled into one vitamin?
- Where does the sweetener come from?
- Does the product contain artificial colors or dyes?
