The vitamin preparations are so dangerous

spinachCarrots or apples. If vegetables and Fruit Land on the plate, children are often not very enthusiastic. Many parents therefore access Dietary supplements – especially to missed vitamins to compensate for. The Donald study The Dortmund research institute for child nutrition (FKE) came to the conclusion that every tenth child receives at least one dietary supplement from his parents every day. According to the younger Eskimo study this applies to every twelfth child aged six to eleven – and around 20 percent of children and adolescents aged twelve to 17 years. But are dietary supplements for children really necessary? And can vitamin supplements even become dangerous? We went in search of answers.

Are dietary supplements necessary for children?

The Donald study and the Eskimo study came to similar results: there is no additional need for the vitamins that occur excellently in nutritional supplements. This is mainly due to the fact that children a large number of Grocer Consume that contain many minerals and vitamins. An example: breakfast flakes. Especially for the following vitamins there is usually no additional need for children that could be compensated for by nutritional supplements:

Stiftung Warentest has been testing the work and benefits of nutritional supplements regularly for many years. The consumer organization came to a clear conclusion in 2008: « You can confidently do without food supplements for children. » Their benefits are not sufficiently proven. Five years later, this assessment had hardly changed: « Dietary supplements for children who are supposedly favorable on brain function or learning and concentration can save themselves. The benefits are not sufficiently proven, » said Stiftung Warentest.

2025 tested Stiftung Warentest 18 nutritional supplementsthat are offered especially for children. Known funds such as Centrum, Abbey and Orthomol were among these. The result: all tested food supplements are superfluous. « 17 products have defects, and we strongly advise against five », can also be read in the test report. The test suggests that dietary supplements for children can not only be superfluous, but also unhealthy.

Are dietary supplements dangerous for children?

Stiftung Warentest recognized deficiencies in the recent test in 17 out of 18 nutritional supplements such as An excessive dosagean inadmissible application and an encouragement of fabrics that children should not consume at all. Accordingly, 15 products exceeded daily quantities that are recommended for children. Stiftung Warentest explicitly advises against five funds: The product « Orthomol Junior C Plus » contains copper, which has « children in children », as Dr. Holger Brackemann, Head of Investigations at Stiftung Warentest, clarified. Accordingly, the increase in copper can vomit at short notice and lead abdominal pain in the long term to liver damage.

Four funds would also contain high amounts of vitamin A, which would even exceed maximum values ​​that apply to adults. These are the following products:

Li): Relative List-None (&> Li): PL- (1.2EM) (&> Li): Marker: Text- (0) (&> Li): Relative (&> Li): Before: Absolute (&> Li): Before: W-3 (&> Li): Before: H-3 (&> Li): Before: BG-fire (& Li): Before: LEFT-0 (&> Li): Before: Top- (8px) (&> Li): Before: Rounded-Full My-5 « >
• Double heart system omega-3 liquid family
• Centrum kids multi vitamin rubber
• Hübner Multivital Kids
• Easyvit Easy Fishill Multi

According to Stiftung Warentest, the presentation and design of the products are also dangerous. Around half of the dietary supplements could be confused with sweets. The orthomol product is, for example, in the form of mini cars.

Vitamin preparations for children: demands of binding maximum quantities

The consumer center comes In an investigation To the conclusion that there are « various regulatory gaps » around food supplements. The claim: « The legislator should set binding maximum amounts of nutrients in nutrients and take into account the specific needs of children. So it needs to be determined according to age. Against the background of the precautionary principle, from the perspective of the consumer center, up to such a binding regulation for children are not sufficiently safe product group. »

Stiftung Warentest follows the demand. The European Union (EU) should maximum amounts for Minerals and define vitamins in nutritional supplements and introduce a corresponding approval procedure. According to the Pharmaceutical newspaper Dietary supplements are currently considered food. For manufacturers, this means that you have no obligation to report if you bring such products onto the market. The report shows that sales of manufacturers in this segment rose by 35 percent from 2018 to early 2024. It was last 3.21 billion euros. For Brackemann, companies do a business « with the concerns of the parents ».