When to start flintstone vitamins
The Dark History of the Flintstones Vitamins
did you ever take Flintstones vitamins
as a child you're not alone The
Flintstones TV show aired in 1960 but it
wasn't until 1968 that the show's
vitamins were introduced even though the
cartoon was originally targeted towards
adults it became immensely popular among
children and teenagers as a result the
company started selling a variety of
merchandise to boost sales in 1968 one
popular new marketing scheme was to sell
chewy vitamins in the shape of the
Flintstones characters despite the
products instant popularity Flintstones
vitamins suffer from a surprisingly dark
history in today's video we're going to
take a look at the not so sweet past of
this product make sure you stick around
until the end of the video where we'll
reveal a dangerous product that the same
company also sponsored facts first
presents the dark history of the
Flintstones vitamins be sure to leave a
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at first glance everything about
Flintstones vitamins seems like a good
idea
each vitamin depicts a cute and colorful
character that your kids will be sure to
love and to make it even better they're
supposed to be nutritious for your
children as well
the idea was children would take in
essential minerals and nutrients in one
tasty treat it seemed like every
parent's dream come true however after a
closer look you'll discover that these
vitamins aren't all they claim to be to
truly understand the dark history behind
these vitamins we first have to look at
how they came to be the Flintstones was
a hit TV series that aired between 1960
and 66 even though it was first created
over 50 years ago it remains popular to
this day the zany Stone Age characters
were fun and colorful for children to
watch and they quickly became enamored
of characters like Fred and Betty the
designs were bright simple and easy to
market this led to the creator's selling
tons of merchandise as a way to make
extra money in 1960 the very same year
that the Flintstones aired on television
another important invention was created
that would seal the fate of Flintstones
vitamins miles laboratory a company that
specialized in making vitamins invented
a new product called chalks chalks were
marketed solely towards children and
were supposed to be more appetizing than
regular pill form vitamins scientists
had a hard time figuring out whether
these vitamins were good for kids or not
but parents didn't want to listen to
anything bad about these new treats the
vitamins were advertised as being
healthy
even though they looked and tasted like
candy kids are obsessed and parents like
that it got children more interested in
their health chalks were incredibly
popular but miles laboratory had an even
better idea in 1968 after they noticed
just how popular the Flintstones were
becoming they asked to team up with the
TV show creators their idea turned the
lovable cartoon characters into
delicious little vitamins the original
characters used in the new vitamins
included Fred pebbles bamm-bamm Dino
Barney and the Flintstones car
unfortunately even though the vitamins
slowly added new characters over the
years the character Betty wasn't granted
the same opportunity the fact that Betty
didn't have a vitamin of her own became
a hotly debated issue nationwide one
rock band in Atlanta even named
themselves Betty's not a vitamin which
was which was deemed clever enough to
earn a spot on the top 100 best band
names in 1994 a campaign was launched
for people to vote on whether or not
Betty should be turned into a vitamin as
well it might seem silly nowadays but at
the time it was a pretty big deal 17,000
people called a 1-800 number of vote and
3,000 people even voted in person at
specially designed stone age voting
booths the results turned out to be a
landslide
91% of voters were in favor of Betty in
1995 Betty finally earned a vitamin of
her own click the like button if you're
happy Betty was finally granted a spot
alongside the other Flintstones vitamins
as you probably already guessed from the
sheer number of people who turned up to
vote for Betty the vitamins were an
instant hit parents couldn't say no to
kids begging for vitamins after all they
were supposed to be healthy right
scientists and members of the Food and
Drug Administration felt otherwise no
matter how hard miles laboratory tried
to convince everyone their product was
healthy
skeptics remained after some research
scientists discovered that the
Flintstones vitamins were far less
healthy than the advertisements led
customers to believe countless products
claimed to be healthy but if you take a
closer look at the list of ingredients
they contain you'll probably find
they're laced with all sorts of
chemicals
sadly Flintstones vitamins are no
different the first ingredient listed in
Flintstones vitamins is granulated
calcium carbonate which isn't all that
bad a lot of people take this substance
in pure form to get a healthy dose of
calcium as you probably already know
calcium is essential for your bones and
teeth and it can help prevent
osteoporosis later in life a less
commonly known fact about
calcium however is that it also helps
with muscle movement as well as nerve
transmissions so at least the first
ingredient of Flintstones vitamins
passed the health check but that doesn't
mean every ingredient is just as healthy
the second ingredient and therefore the
second most abundant ingredient found in
the product is sorbitol sorbitol is used
as a replacement for sugar and is used
to sweeten the vitamins of course some
sort of sweet ingredient is to be
expected after all children wouldn't
love the vitamin so much if they didn't
taste like candy
however sorbitol is even worse for your
body than sugar --is sorbitol is
commonly used in laxative which means it
can give you stomach cramps and nausea
along with a very serious case of
diarrhea if you eat too much sorbitol
you'll likely experience a whole lot of
discomfort as well as dehydration if you
consume between 10 to 50 grams of
sorbitol as an adult you'll be certain
to experience these uncomfortable
symptoms the worst part however is that
it takes an even smaller quantity to
affect children even though the vitamins
were released in 1968 it wasn't until
1999 that the Center for Science in the
Public Interest created a petition that
spoke out against the use of sorbitol
the group wanted the FDA to require
products to include a warning about the
adverse effects of sorbitol
unfortunately the group was unsuccessful
and the FDA didn't feel the warning was
necessary Flintstones vitamins also
contains unhealthy additives such as
fructose and artificial colorings
research suggests the excessive
consumption of fructose which is a kind
of sugar can lead to diabetes because
it's more difficult for our bodies to
digest artificial colorings can also
have adverse effects one study even
suggests that certain artificial colors
can lead to ADHD another argument
against vitamins is that they shouldn't
be necessary in the first place
scientists argue that it's unhealthy to
become dependent on the use of vitamins
because you should be receiving all the
nutrients you need through a healthy
diet if you feel you need vitamins to
stay healthy you should be focusing on
eating more whole grains and vegetables
instead overall scientists agree that
Flintstones vitamins are an unnecessary
and sugary addition to an everyday diet
and they aren't nearly as healthy as
advertisements make them out to be of
course in some cases vitamins can be
beneficial to your health people with
dietary restrictions such as vegetarians
can find a lot of benefits to vitamins
however in those cases it's always
better to take vitamins that are made
with natural ingredients rather than
ones with unhealthy chemicals and
dairy additives despite the early
discussion among scientists about the
unhealthy aspects of Flintstone vitamins
they remain popular today many parents
grew up eating the vitamins when they
were young and they've passed the habit
on to their children furthermore
Flintstones vitamins aren't the only
unhealthy advertisement to come out of
the TV show one of the biggest scandals
surrounding the series is that the show
used to advertise for a much more
dangerous product in one episode of The
Flintstones characters Fred and Barney
take a break to smoke Winston brand
cigarettes Winston was one of the first
sponsors to talk to the Flintstones
about advertising their products a
rather sinister idea considering the
show is most popular among children and
teens of course this advertisement was
mostly a product of the times cigarettes
were immensely popular in the 60s and
70s and laws had not yet been created
that banned cigarette companies from
advertising their products to minors
however it's irrefutable that the
cigarette ads were a terrible influence
on children in the TV show Fred even
says Winston tastes good like a
cigarette should which was meant to
entice young people to try smoking these
days that sort of ad would be stamped
out immediately modern research has
finally helped us realize just how
dangerous cigarettes are especially when
it comes to cancer overall it's
important to recognize that things
aren't always as they seem
Flintstones vitamins may be advertised
as a healthy addition to any child's
diet but the ingredient list proves
otherwise
while vitamins and similar supplements
can be helpful in some cases it's
usually best to rely on a healthy diet
filled with plenty of vegetables if you
do want to take vitamins you should
avoid Flintstones vitamins which contain
a variety of unhealthy chemicals and
sugars do you still take Flintstones
vitamins or do you avoid them let us
know in the comments we hope you like
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