"Not so fast there, Smarty Pants®!"
It seems that every so often, a new company comes out with a new name, a new marketing angle, a new story to share. Today we focus on Smarty Pants® adult vitamins. I have seen this name suggested or recommended in many health forums online, so I decided to take a closer look.
The Smarty Pants® brand claims in their marketing:
No Synthetic Colors
No Artificial Sweeteners
No Artificial Flavors
No Artificial Preservatives
No High Fructose Corn Syrup
No GMOs
No Gluten
No Wheat
No Eggs
No Peanuts
No Soy
No Dairy
This all sounds great as I'd agree that we should definitely aim to stay away or steer clear of these mentioned above. So the question one would have to logically follow up with is: “Well what are they offering and how does it relate to what else is available on the market?”
Sadly, the truth of the matter is this brand is offering the same synthetic ingredients and toxic materials that are found in virtually all other supplement brands. There is nothing special or out of the ordinary when you review their product line.
However; what I do find, leaves much concern for anyone looking to include these chemicals into your dietary regimen.
They are using 2 ingredients for vitamins and minerals that are actually listed as toxic, they do not appear in any living cell structure upon this earth, they are pure chemistry, and may be implicated as severely adversary to one's health.
In this Adult Smarty Pants ® multivitamin, they are using Selenium listed as Sodium Selenite. Sodium Selenite has been implicated in causing DNA mutations and/or cellular death, and is therefore considered as a preliminary causation towards cancer. [1]
In this Adult Smarty Pants ® multivitamin, they are also using D3 as cholecalciferol, which has also been listed as a toxic substance.[2] It is listed as an environmental toxin and also in Europe its “Allowed workplace exposures restricted to very low doses.” It is often delivered in the either a preparation from irradiated animal fats such as spinal cords/brains of cattle or it is solvently extracted from lanolin, or pressed wool grease. (Eww! No thanks)
So, these are just 2 of the most offensive ingredients added to their supplement. As is common in the misleading marketplace, the company focuses on how to sell their product, highlighting a few “advantages” of their product, yet completely ignoring the fact that what they are in fact offering is a toxic chemical cocktail.
These types of toxicity concerns, and chemicals that may be promoting cellular death or precursors towards cancer are not to be taken lightly. The dangers of such chemicals ingested on a daily basis as a measure of “good health” should not be overlooked while the “wool is being pulled over our eyes.”
The marketplace is filled with new gimmicks, and new marketing strategies. Fortunately, our bodies can not be fooled as easily. As a wholefood specialist, I advocate a good, organic wholefood diet, and when supplementation is required and/or necessary, that one would also choose an organic wholefood supplement to complement their diets. You may have the best organic, raw diet; but, if you are going to “compliment” that diet with toxic chemicals, what good would that do?
This is where I urge the caution to read and research the ingredients on the labels, and not simply fall prey to malicious false marketing. Slow down there, Smarty Pants ® !
For more information, review these sites:
The Wholefood Deception
Truth About Supplements
[1] http://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1727.pdf
[2] https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/701330/CHOLECALCIFEROL/#.WvCdeZe1vIU
