Vegetarian Journal - Issue 4 2010 - The Vegetarian Resource Group

Nutrition Now’s Calcium Soft Chews Assorted FruitVariety Is Free of All Animal ProductsBy Jeanne Yacoubou, MS, VRG Research DirectorRECENTLY, A READER ASKED US TO LOOK INTO THEsources of calcium and vitamin D in NutritionNow’s Calcium Soft Chews listed in a VRG articleon vitamin D (Vegetarian Journal, Issue 2, 2009). Thecompany had provided her with some information, andshe wanted VRG to confirm that it was true.We spoke to Holly, a customer service representativeat Nutrition Now, and Kirshing, a process controlanalyst. Holly told us that the Calcium Soft Chews containedcalcium carbonate derived from mineral deposits.The vitamin D 2 in this product is yeast-derived.Calcium Soft Chews come in two flavors: assortedfruit and chocolate. The company’s own ‘vegetarianapproved’ label is only on the assorted fruit variety.The chocolate flavor Calcium Soft Chews do not carrythis label because “the product contains dairy,” Kirshingsaid. Nutrition Now does not use a ‘vegan approved’label, but the Assorted Fruit Calcium Soft Chews appearto be free of all animal products.Nutrition Now manufactures a children’s versionof Calcium Soft Chews, known as Rhino CalciumSoft Chews and also available in assorted fruit andchocolate flavors. The company’s ‘vegetarian approved’label appears only on the assorted fruit variety. Thechocolate flavor contains dairy but is otherwise freeof other animal products.Readers may note that some Nutrition Now vitaminproducts contain gelatin. Those that do—and only thosethat do—are sprayed with coconut oil and beeswax toprevent sticking. Nutrition Now makes similar productsfor both children and adults with pectin (insteadof gelatin) and without beeswax spray. These productpackages also carry the ‘vegetarian approved’ label.Readers should be aware that some Nutrition Nowproducts contain vitamin D 3 from lanolin found insheep’s wool. The vitamin D 3 is listed as such. Tricalciumphosphate may be used as the calcium source insome products. This is a mineral form of calcium, too.See for more information.NOTES FROM THE VRG SCIENTIFIC DEPARTMENTVRG IN THE NEWSVegetarian Resource Group Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, was interviewed about top ways to addvariety to a vegan diet for Today’s Diet and Nutrition magazine and about consuming soy during pregnancy forFit Pregnancy magazine. She also spoke to Woman’s World magazine about veggie burgers. In addition, Reed wasa guest on the Backstage Gourmet radio show.VRG OUTREACHEarlier this year, Vegetarian Resource Group Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, submitted a proposalto present a paper titled “Do Vegetarians and Vegans Stay Vegetarian? The Vegetarian Resource Group 2006-2009 Survey” for the 2010 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) in Boston. Her proposal was accepted,and she presented the results of VRG’s longitudinal study during a poster session on Tuesday, November 9. Someof the results have been reported in this issue of Vegetarian Journal (pages 10-12).Reed authored a chapter about vegetarian children in the American Dietetic Association’s recently publishedPediatric Nutrition Care Manual. She also worked the VRG table at the Alternative Health Fair at HampshireCollege in Amherst, Massachusetts, for the second year in a row.VEGETARIAN JOURNAL Vol. 29, Issue Four 2010 13