Teens. They’re the ultimate smarty pants. So we created a product to help them push all the buttons they want, bend all the rules they can think of, and think so far outside the box they’re in a box of their own.

Our SmartyPants Teen Formula is not your average vitamin. It’s a powerhouse blend of 18 essential nutrients, lutein and zeaxanthin for eye health and omega-3 EPA and DHA fatty acids (from fish oil) - all in one hassle-free, delicious package.*

SmartyPants Teen Formula is one-of-a-kind in the world of gummy vitamins because we include lutein and zeaxanthin to help protect the eyes from overexposure to damaging blue light typically associated with LED light that can be emitted from laptops and smartphones.* With 60% of Americans spending more than 5 hours a day on digital devices, it has become increasingly important to get lutein and zeaxanthin in your daily diet. We include it in our Teen Formulas to help fill those nutritional gaps.

Like with all SmartyPants products, our Teen Formulas include nutrients in the premium forms that the body prefers and can easily use. These include folate as methylfolate, vitamin B12 as methylcobalamin and vitamin D as D3.

Our Teens Formulas are also non-GMO. No synthetic colors, artificial flavors or artificial sweeteners. They're gluten-free, wheat-free and free of the eight most common allergens including milk, eggs, shellfish, soy, gluten, wheat, fish allergens, peanuts and tree nut allergens. Each batch is third-party lab tested for purity and potency, so you can be sure what you read on our label is what you get in our product.

This formula is was awarded the Clean Label Project's Purity Award, the highest rating for product purity and value.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Here’s a riddle for you. What are three words that strike fear into any meat lover’s heart?

The answer: Eat your greens.

Well, turns out that tried and true platitude your parents told you at every meal is right – at least when it comes to lutein and zeaxanthin.

While there is no recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for either of these critical nutrients yet, most recent clinical studies show health benefits at 10 mg of lutein and 2 mg of zeaxanthin per day for adults 18+. Additional studies suggest a daily intake of 6 mg lutein and 1 mg zeaxanthin for children 2 – 18.*

Average lutein and zeaxanthin consumption across the world.†

Most Americans only get 0.8 – 1.1 mg of lutein and zeaxanthin from their diet alone. Here’s a list of the combined amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin in natural foods:

• Kale (cooked) – 23.8 mg / cup
• Spinach (cooked) – 20.4 mg / cup
• Collard Greens (cooked) – 14.6 mg / cup
• Turnip Greens (cooked) – 12.2 mg / cup
• Broccoli (cooked) – 1.6 mg / cup
• Green Beans (cooked) – 0.8 mg / cup
• Eggs – 0.3 mg / 2 large eggs

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

† FloraGLO® by Kemin: The Pioneers of Lutein Science and Discovery.

The measure of the amount of lutein and zeaxanthin in your eyes is called macular pigment optical density, or MPOD. Low MPOD means less protection from excess blue light.

Talk to your eye care professional about a quick and easy test to measure your MPOD†.

†MPOD devices are fairly new and might not be available everywhere. Ask your eye doctors if MPOD testing is available in your area.

When it comes to lutein and zeaxanthin, two big questions may come to mind: What are they and what do they do?

Long story short: lutein and zeaxanthin are two carotenoids that help support eye health, enhance visual performance, and help protect the eye from overexposure to damaging blue light, often associated with LED screens.*

Now that we have your attention, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of how lutein and zeaxanthin promote healthy vision.

Located near the center of the retina is an area known as the macula. The pigment in the macula is primarily composed of 3 carotenoids – lutein, zeaxanthin, and meso-zeaxanthin isomers.

Our bodies cannot synthetize lutein or zeaxanthin, so these carotenoids must be obtained from food or supplements.

Meso-zeaxanthin is created from metabolizing lutein and is not obtainable from dietary sources. In other words, lutein does double duty, acting as a nutrient itself and acting as the raw material for the synthesis of meso-zeaxanthin.

So what about the macular pigment – how is connected to eye health and visual performance?

The thickness and density of the macular pigment is called the macular pigment optical density (MPOD). The thicker and denser the macular pigment, the better your visual acuity, i.e. your ability to see clearly and in fine detail.*

This includes glare recovery, sensitivity to bright lights, contrast sensitivity, and visual processing speed. The macular pigment acts as internal sunglasses for the eyes, absorbing and filtering blue light, the most damaging spectrum of visible light, that is emitted by LED screens on computers, cell phones, tablets, televisions, and etc.*

At 10 mg and 2 mg daily, lutein and zeaxanthin are clinically-proven to increase MPOD.*

Lutein is also able to cross the blood brain barrier and is the predominant carotenoid found in the brain. Strong emerging science suggests that lutein may serve as a safe and natural support for cognitive function, especially as you age. Lutein is also an important nutrient for brain development and may provide antioxidant protection for the brain.*

With 60% of Americans spending more than 5 hours a day on digital devices, it has become increasingly important to get lutein and zeaxanthin in your daily diet.

That’s why we include FloraGLO Lutein and OPTISHARP Natural Zeaxanthin in our Masters Formula and Teen Formula products – and we hope to add it to many more of our formulas in the future.

SmartyPants Masters Formula is the only gummy vitamin with clinically-proven doses of lutein and zeaxanthin.

Our Teen Formula product contain 6 mg and 1 mg of lutein and zeaxanthin respectively for a safe and efficacious dose for those under 18 years of age.

At SmartyPants, we know ingredients matter – that’s why we use the best of the best whenever possible. We chose to use FloraGLO Lutein because it is the most clinically researched lutein brand worldwide and was the chosen lutein brand used by the National Eye Institute (NEI) in the landmark AREDS2 study.

We know we have to earn your trust, so that’s why we work hard to create the best possible product we can. If you have any questions regarding lutein or zeaxanthin, please don’t hesitate to ask!

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

The answer to this question is a little fuzzy.

There’s no hard and fast rule, or, in this case, age, for when a teenager should make the switch from Kids Formula to Teen Formula. Kids physically mature at different rates and, thus, at different ages.

When a teen makes the switch is more related to weight and physical maturity than age, strictly speaking. There may be some 11 to 12 year olds for whom this product is perfect, but, for others, 14 to 15 years old may be more appropriate.

Please consult your child’s primary healthcare provider to determine when your child should make the switch from Kids Formula to Teen Formula.

SmartyPants Teen Formulas are different from our Kids Formula in that they were designed to address specific nutritional gaps for teenagers 13 years and older.

As a result, our Teen Formulas each include a multivitamin, omega-3 EPA and DHA from fish oil and essential nutrients carefully-selected just for teens. Whereas our Kids Formula was designed for kids 4 years of age and older.

Remember puberty? Yeah, that’s why. Let’s all get it out of the way and say hello to that very awkward, lurking elephant in the room.

In addition to all the mental and emotional changes involved, “growing up” involves a whole lot of physical changes too. Those changes are very different from the changes a child or adult goes through and go hand in hand with a teenager’s nutritional demands.

While all essential nutrients are important to growing teens, making sure they get plenty of omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, B-vitamins, calcium, iron, and zinc is especially important.

Especially since, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015, the Average Daily Intake (ADI) of dark green vegetables, whole grains, and seafood for adolescents 9-18 fell well below the recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) across the board, regardless of biological sex or ethnicity.

On average teens between the ages of 11 – 17 do not meet the dietary recommendations for fruits, vegetables, and calcium-rich foods and are often low in iron.†

Refining, processing, and cooking can remove many of the nutrients contained in foods, like grains and vegetables.

Eating a wide variety of foods and eating more whole, unprocessed foods is the best way to incorporate all the nutrients you need into your and your teen’s diet. That being said, for the days when that extra greasy pepperoni pizza is just too delicious to pass up for dinner, dietary supplements can be an awesome nutritional safety net for the whole family.

†Please note that SmartyPants Teen Guy Formula and Teen Girl Formula do not contain iron. Click here to find out why. They also do not contain calcium.

Blue light is everywhere. And we mean everywhere. The sun, your kitchen lightbulbs, and your cell phone all emit blue light. Digital devices, however, emit blue light in significantly high concentrations than natural sources of light. Coupled with the fact that we are spending more time on more digital devices each day, our eyes are more vulnerable to potential damage from blue light than ever before.

Nearly every light source – whether natural or artificial – emits blue light. It’s everywhere and it’s unavoidable.

To understand blue light, it’s important to understand how visible light is measured. Visible light is part of something called the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is a set of waves measured in nanometers (nm) and classified by wavelength. Think of it as a ladder. At the bottom of the ladder are high energy waves such as ultraviolet light and x-rays (0.01 to 360 nm). In the middle of the ladder are waves we call visible light (380 nm to 760 nm). At the top of the ladder are low energy waves such as radio waves, micro waves, and infrared waves (760 nm and up).

Visible light is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum detected by the human eye. This portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is where color enters our life.

Waves below 380 nm are absorbed by your lens and cornea, so they do not usually reach the back of your retina where your macular pigment and photoreceptors are located. Waves from 500 nm and up – think your greens, yellows, oranges, and reds – are less energetic and therefore cause less damage to your eyes.

Blue light, on the other hand, runs between 380 to 500 nm wavelengths. So blue light lives in an awkward spot on the electromagnetic spectrum – it’s not energetic enough to be filtered out but it is energetic enough to cause damage to your eyes, specifically your macular pigment.

Of all the colors in the light spectrum, blue is the hardest on your eyes.

While it’s impossible to completely avoid exposure to blue light, help protect your eyes from its damaging effects by getting plenty of lutein and zeaxanthin in your diet, either from foods like spinach, eggs, broccoli, red and yellow peppers, and corn or from high-quality supplements like SmartyPants Masters Formula, Teen Formula and PhD Formulas.*

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.