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Influencer after influencer says the same thing about Grüns. The gummy vitamins are delightful, chockful of whole organic ingredients, and much tastier than icky powders or pills. One of my most indelible childhood memories is the chalky, gritty, vaguely fruit-flavored taste of a Flintstones vitamin. I hated those cursed tablets so much, I learned how to swallow pills to avoid having to chew them. So I get the whole gummy supplement trend. Squishy, sweet, and infinitely more fun to eat, who wouldn’t want vitamins in a candied form?
If a gummy bear married a green smoothie, you’d get a pack of Grüns. Chewable vitamins aren’t new, but Grüns’ success is thanks in part to its aggressive messaging on social media. I couldn’t help but notice the same buzzwords and phrases popping up over and over. “My kids love these.” “These taste way better than greens powders.” “Free from allergens, sugar-free, vegan, and 100 percent of your daily needs.” The most egregious were two influencers who each started their video saying, “Just because you get something for free doesn’t mean you have to give a good review.” Both proceeded to give the Grüns gummies good reviews, cycling through some of the familiar talking points. Recently, I’ve also seen ads for Grüns targeting GLP-1 users, claiming the gummies are “Ozempic’s new bestie,” as one pack daily will help you poop better.
It’s easy to tell when an influencer is parroting a prewritten spiel for a brand deal. But see an ad enough times, and inevitably, a percentage of people will get curious. Again, does anyone really love the taste of green powder juices? What tired parent hasn’t worried about their picky child getting enough nutrients? I know no one jumps out of bed in the morning with a pep in their step to take a Centrum multivitamin. Throw in some cute packaging and science-washing, and welcome, friend, to the wellness Wild West.
Wellness brands love putting their products on petri dishes in marketing. Screenshot: Grüns
A few weeks ago, I asked Optimizer readers which popular wellness brands they’d like me to look into. Grüns was one of them. Moseying on over to the company’s site, it was also one of the few with a science marketing page. I was prepared for the usual science-washing tropes. Words like “clinically” or “scientifically backed.” Dubious graphs. Celebrity endorsements. A sprinkling of science-y words here and there to give a veneer of legitimacy. Check, check, double check.
There’s a lot that I could nitpick about Grüns. For starters, experts have noted that gummy vitamins are often less effective than tablets or powders for a variety of reasons, including perishability. I could also get into how it uses a proprietary blend, meaning you don’t actually know how much of each organic, whole food ingredient is in the product. Or the fact that its top two ingredients are soluble fiber, leaving out insoluble forms. Not to mention, experts have long cautioned that while supplements like greens products — be they powdered or gummies — can help, they’re not magic substitutes for eating vegetables. But for this exercise, I’m going to zero in on whether Grüns’ clinical testing actually proves any of its marketing claims.
Grüns’ science page has the word “clinically-tested” right up top. The lead image is a green gummy bear sitting in a petri dish — it’s highly reminiscent of the marketing on the science page for AG1, another viral greens powder product. Scroll down, and you’ll see a green bear mascot called Dr. Barry holding a clipboard next to words like “12 weeks,” “placebo-controlled,” “double-blind,” and “randomized.” There’s a paragraph explaining that Grüns ran blood tests to see whether folate and vitamin C levels increased in participants. (Unsurprisingly, the graphs say the gummies did.) You have to squint at a footnote to see that the clinical study involved 120 healthy adults aged 23 to 59.
But nowhere is there a link to the actual study. Based on Grüns’ site alone, you’d have to just take their word for it.
This is it. This is all we got for the results. Screenshot: Citruslabs
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