LEAD Found in Vitamins for Women and Children

A recent survey by the FDA on vitamins labeled for women and children found elevated lead levels present in most of the vitamins.

Full report by FDA can be found here. The brand name of all the women and children's vitamins are included in the report, and sorted according to population group (young children, pregnant and lactating women, and adult women) and decreasing estimated exposure.

Do check out the report if you are taking vitamins or if you are feeding your child vitamins. Out of the 324 products sampled, only 3 products for children and 1 product for pregnant or lactating women had no lead levels detected. They are:

- NF Formulas Liquid Pediatric (for children 0-6 years old)
- Natrol Liquid Kids Companion (for children 0-6 years old)
- Twinlab Infant Care (for children (for children 0-6 years old)
- After Baby Boost 2 (for pregnant and lactating women)

On a side note, even though all 324 vitamin products sampled were labelled for women and children, I would imagine that vitamins labelled otherwise (ie for general consumption, not necessarily only for women or children) would also contain lead. My opinion on this is that if you are eating a healthy diet, skip the vitamin! All vitamins and minerals needed by the body can be easily found in the foods we eat daily. Furthermore, absorption of these vitamins and minerals are better from food, rather than from supplements.

(This article was edited on 15 September to include the names of specific samples of vitamins which had no detected levels of lead in them)