Mamavation Investigation Finds Disturbing Toxins in Youngsters's Multivitamins

Initially revealed on Mamavation: July 29, 2025

What are the most secure youngsters’s multivitamins out there with the bottom quantity of poisonous contaminants like pesticides, heavy metals, PFAS “eternally chemical compounds,” and phthalates?

We requested our viewers what youngsters’s multivitamins they had been giving their youngsters and we despatched the highest 9 merchandise off to totally different EPA-certified laboratories to test. The outcomes may help dad and mom in our group make educated choices on what manufacturers to buy for his or her youngsters.

You’ve trusted Mamavation to convey you client research like most secure cooking oils examined for phthalates, most secure water filters to filter PFAS, and most secure probiotics for youths examined for indications of PFAS “eternally chemical compounds,” now be a part of us for a client research testing youngsters’s multivitamins for pesticides, PFAS “eternally chemical compounds,” phthalates, and heavy metals.

Disclosure: This client research is launched in partnership with Environmental Well being Information. Scientific opinions had been carried out by (1) Terrence Collins, Teresa Heinz Professor of Inexperienced Chemistry and Director of the Institute for Inexperienced Sciences at Carnegie Mellon College and (2) Linda S. Birnbaum, Scientist Emeritus and Former Director of the Nationwide Institute of Environmental Well being Sciences and Nationwide Toxicology Program and Scholar in Residence at Duke College, Adjunct Professor on the College of North Carolina, and Yale College.

Donations had been supplied by Environmental Well being Information and Mamavation group members. Observe that Mamavation has solely “spot-checked” the trade and thus we can’t make predictions about manufacturers and merchandise that we’ve not examined. Merchandise and manufacturing aides can change with out discover so purchaser beware.

This submit comprises affiliate hyperlinks, with most to Amazon, which suggests Mamavation will obtain a portion of these gross sales and we are going to use that to pay ourselves again for the testing. You too can give a tax-deductible donation to our client research right here by Environmental Well being Sciences. Thanks! Copyright © 2025 Mamavation — All Rights Reserved.

Mamavation’s EPA-Licensed Laboratory Finds Heavy Metals, PFAS, Pesticides, and Phthalates in Fashionable Youngsters’s Multivitamins

Mamavation despatched 9 widespread youngsters’s multivitamins to 2 EPA-certified laboratories testing for PFAS analytes, together with PFOA/PFOS, phthalates, heavy metals, glyphosate, and 500+ further pesticides. The contamination outcomes had been stunning contemplating how costly most of those merchandise had been. Here is the end result of contaminants that had been discovered in line with our labs:

Linda S. Birnbaum, Scientist Emeritus and Former Director of the Nationwide Institute of Environmental Well being Sciences and Nationwide Toxicology Program and Scholar in Residence at Duke College, Adjunct Professor on the College of North Carolina, and Yale College had this to say after her scientific assessment:

“Youngsters’s multivitamins are doing a greater job avoiding heavy metals like lead and cadmium and pesticides, however nonetheless have points with phthalates and PFAS. These particular contaminants are very problematic to youngsters’s well being, so I might advocate working to decrease and eradicate these chemical compounds instantly.”

Contaminants Included in Mamavation’s EPA Licensed Laboratory Testing

Mamavation despatched 9 youngsters’s multivitamins to 2 totally different EPA-certified laboratories searching for particular problematic contaminants that might not be listed on an ingredient panel. These elements are by no means discovered on an ingredient label as a result of they don’t seem to be thought of “deliberately added” and would as an alternative be thought of extra of a contaminant from manufacturing, transportation, storage, and/or farming practices.

Nonetheless, simply because these contaminants aren’t “deliberately added” doesn’t suggest they will not influence your well being over time and utilization. Our labs examined for the next contaminants and located a few of them current in youngsters’s multivitamins we examined to various levels:

Terrence Collins, Teresa Heinz Professor of Inexperienced Chemistry and Director of the Institute for Inexperienced Sciences at Carnegie Mellon College had this to say after his scientific assessment: “Youngsters’s multivitamins goal to help the wholesome improvement and welfare of America’s biggest treasures — its superb and delightful youngsters who’re the Nation’s future.

Given the belief that folks categorical that their youngsters’s well being and vitality can be boosted in the event that they purchase them multivitamin dietary supplements, one would suppose that an assurance that well-recognized poisonous chemical compounds are absent must be a bedrock of this whole trade.

Mamavation’s research reveals that this bedrock is shaky at greatest and challenges the advertising firms to do significantly better for the individuals who purchase and use their merchandise. Corporations on this space have some critical rethinking, resourcing, chemical purification, and chemical monitoring work to do to stabilize the bedrock that’s important for client belief.”

PFAS “Endlessly Chemical” Analytes Examined, Together with PFOA and PFOS

PFAS “eternally chemical compounds” are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances used as stain-resistant, waterproof, and oil-resistant chemical compounds in commerce. They’ve been used for many years in client merchandise, manufacturing, and constructing supplies. Listed below are a few of the well being results related to totally different PFAS “eternally chemical compounds:”

It is also very clear primarily based on biomonitoring proof from the Middle for Illness Management (CDC) that PFAS are in just about all Individuals. Subsequently, these exposures can hurt most Individuals. For this investigation, we elected to check for forty particular PFAS analytes listed under utilizing EPA methodology 1633:

Glyphosate — Testing Particulars

Glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine] is the energetic ingredient in glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) and is the hottest herbicide on this planet. Environmental publicity to this broad-based herbicide has elevated dramatically for the reason that introduction in 1996 of “Spherical-up Prepared” genetically modified (GMO) crops for soybean, maize, and cotton varieties.

“Spherical-up Prepared” genetically modified crops made it potential to make the most of glyphosate as a broadcast herbicide whereas not killing the crops they had been sprayed on. Glyphosate can be extensively used for deforestation efforts, reminiscent of killing brush in fireplace zones, and can be relied on closely by landscapers to kill weeds on inexperienced belts and golf programs. In the end, glyphosate is used for eliminating weeds and shrubs, reminiscent of annual and perennial grasses, broadleaf weeds, and woody species.

Glyphosate was initially patented as a chelator and an antibiotic, which suggests it has the power to cease nutrient absorption and decimate delicate intestine flora. These two easy information clarify why glyphosate is so damaging to the general well being of your physique and has been linked to spreading antibiotic-resistant micro organism. Glyphosate has additionally been deemed a “possible carcinogen” by the World Well being Group and added to the Prop. 65 Record of carcinogens and reproductive toxins in California.

Mamavation despatched 9 youngsters’s multivitamins to our EPA Licensed lab to check for glyphosate, glufosinate, and AMPA (metabolites or breakdown merchandise) utilizing liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) at 10 elements per billion (ppb) detection restrict. That is the usual check going as little as potential in a business lab. (College labs or experimental labs utilizing non-standardized testing might be able to go decrease.)

500+ Extra Pesticide Laboratory Exams for Youngsters’s Multivitamins — Testing Particulars

9 youngsters’s multivitamins had been despatched to our EPA-certified lab and analyzed utilizing two totally different strategies, which totaled testing for 587 pesticides all the way down to the bottom standardized stage, which was principally 10 ppb. Nonetheless, there are a couple of chemical compounds the place the detection restrict was between 18 and 25 ppb. Our laboratory didn’t discover any traces of pesticides at any of those detection ranges. The primary methodology regarded on the following pesticides:

The second group was analyzed utilizing the LC-MS/MS approach for 360 pesticides and included the next:

Phthalates — Testing Particulars

Phthalates are linked to many well being results in a number of research on each animals and people. That is very problematic as a result of phthalates are linked with hormone disruption of the endocrine system, which regulates the physique’s hormones, even in hint quantities in low concentrations. Epidemiological research have revealed that publicity to phthalates adversely impacts the extent of hormones inside the physique, which may influence a number of vital well being capabilities. Listed below are some well being results phthalate publicity is linked to.

Mamavation’s EPA-certified lab examined for the next phthalates. This isn’t an entire checklist of all of the phthalates which might be allowed to be current as an oblique meals additive in line with the FDA, nonetheless, this checklist goes above and past what’s already restricted by the European Union or the State of California.

Heavy Metals: Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic — Testing Particulars

Our EPA-certified laboratory examined every youngsters’s multivitamins for the next metals:

Mamavation then adjusted the end result to mirror California Prop. 65 primarily based on serving dimension into ug/day outcomes. In relation to defending shoppers, California has way more stringent well being protecting ranges, however as an alternative of banning merchandise, they require producers to make use of label warnings as an alternative.

California’s Prop. 65 established “secure harbor ranges” for many of the heavy metals we examined: arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Prop. 65 requires companies to offer warnings to shoppers dwelling in California about vital exposures to chemical compounds that trigger most cancers, start defects, or different reproductive hurt.

These chemical compounds might be within the merchandise they buy, of their houses or workplaces, or launched into the surroundings. By requiring this info to be supplied, it allows shoppers in California to make knowledgeable choices about their publicity to those chemical compounds.

Listed below are the No Vital Threat Ranges (NSRL) and the Most Allowable Dose Ranges (MADL) established by the State of California for the heavy metals we examined:

Mamavation’s Uncooked Information from Our EPA-Licensed Laboratory Ranked

Mamavation despatched two units of 9 youngsters’s multivitamins to totally different EPA-certified laboratories searching for traces of contaminants:

All merchandise had been despatched to the laboratory in authentic packaging and bought between June and December 2024. Merchandise had been chosen by Mamavation group members representing what they’re already shopping for and utilizing of their houses to feed their households. All merchandise had been bought by Mamavation immediately.

We couldn’t buy and check all of the really useful manufacturers as a result of we had a restricted finances for this testing. After analyzing the outcomes of every product, we determined to categorize merchandise into three classes.

If you want to donate to our efforts, you are able to do so by giving a tax-deductible donation right here by Environmental Well being Sciences. You too can help our efforts by purchasing our affiliate hyperlinks. Please be aware that hyperlinks under are affiliate in nature and any purchases can pay us again for the testing and permit us to do extra testing sooner or later.

Mamavation’s Investigation of Youngsters’s Multivitamins

Not Our Favourite Youngsters’s Multivitamins

These youngsters’s multivitamins had been discovered to have quantifiable quantities of PFAS “eternally chemical compounds” OR that they had excessive quantities of phthalates current. If we discovered pesticides, we might have positioned these merchandise right here.

Higher Multivitamins

These youngsters’s multivitamins both had PFAS “eternally chemical compounds” or pesticides recognized by the lab, however they had been in such low quantities they weren’t quantifiable. Most of those manufacturers additionally had phthalates current within the samples we examined.

MRL means “Technique Reporting Restrict” and it means the bottom focus examined that may be reported reliably.

Finest Multivitamins

These youngsters’s multivitamins had been free from PFAS “eternally chemical compounds,” phthalates, pesticides, and ranges of heavy metals which might be low sufficient that they don’t require a Prop. 65 Warning in California.

Concerning the Writer

Leah Segedie is the President and Founding father of Mamavation.com. Mamavation produces award-winning content material and impartial client research inspecting the intersection of endocrine-disrupting chemical compounds (EDCs) and on a regular basis merchandise introduced into American households. She’s been referred to by many as “the true FDA.”

Since 2008, Mamavation has been serving to on a regular basis mothers navigate the grocery retailer by commissioning client research on meals, drinks, private care merchandise and different such merchandise and thus democratizing science and testing for everybody.