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First Day is a wellness brand that focuses on the development of multivitamins.
Interestingly, their entire product range consists of only four items, all of which are multivitamin formulations designed to accommodate different age groups and genders.
For instance, one is designed for children aged 4 to 14; another is targeted at teenagers aged between 14 and 18, and then they provide two distinct formulas for adults, each uniquely made to meet the nutritional needs of men and women respectively.
Needless to say, this distinction is important since nutritional needs differ based on age and gender, and First Day does a really good job by providing different formulas.
However, is the product, as a whole, better than its competitors? Or are there other multivitamin brands that accomplish a better job of delivering a comprehensive vitamin stack?
This is what I’ll be covering in this article— because ultimately, you want to understand whether or not First Day is the one you should be getting.
Main Takeaways
- I like the fact that First Day’s vitamin formulas come with gummies, which is a far better experience than having to swallow capsules. I know this isn’t applicable to everyone, but I can more easily pop in two gummies in the morning, whereas I feel like there’s a bit more friction with capsules.
- Although I do like gummies, these come with 2 grams of added sugars, which is not a lot, but you typically don’t want to be ingesting extra added sugars, particularly if you already consume a lot of them from your diet.
- Compared to other vitamin formulas, First Day’s seem not to be as comprehensive despite having a premium price point. Additionally, for some nutrients, the concentrations are not substantial, especially when compared to other brands.
Breaking Down The Nutrients in First Day’s Multivitamin
For this breakdown, I’m going to assume you’re looking for a multivitamin that is suitable for an adult and thus analyze First Day’s adult formulas from that lens.
Here are the supplement facts for each respective gender:
Based on this label alone, we can see that both multivitamin formulas contain 13 nutrients, of which 8 are vitamins, and 5 are minerals.
Compared to other formulas I’ve reviewed, this one is lacking in terms of pure variety of nutrients, and the amounts per serving are also lower, at least when compared to the multivitamin I typically forward people to.
Moreover, there’s an unusual aspect concerning First Day vitamins. While the brand purports that its products are inclusive of an organic fruit and vegetable blend, along with nine essential nutrients, this is not reflected in the image I’ve shared above – there’s just no reference to fruits or vegetables.
Whether First Day is being misleading or I’m simply reading things incorrectly, I don’t know, but there’s no mention of blends on the label. It’s only when you dig a bit deeper into the product page’s FAQ section that you can see the full ingredient list, which is the same Supplement Facts label as shown above but showing the ‘other ingredients’.
Additionally, what I’ve noticed is that the men’s formula has a higher concetration of some nutrients when compared to the women’s formula — namely when it comes to zinc, vitamin B6, vitamin B2, vitamin B1, vitamin K, and vitamin A.
This seems like a reasonable approach because men, on average, need more zinc than women, and they also tend to need a bit more of other vitamins (i.e. like B6 and C) as they age.
Contrarily, when women are pregnant or get to a certain age, they also need certain nutrients in higher amounts (i.e. iron, folate (B9), and calcium).
So, it seems like First Day makes that distinction for some vitamins and minerals, and I think that is something positive in the grand scheme of things.
What I Like About First Day Vitamins
There are some things that I like about First Day’s products, and this may not be applicable to everyone, so do keep that in mind.
1. Gummies: Something that I often appreciate is not having to swallow big capsules, especially if I have to do it once or twice per day. First Day’s products, without exception, come in the form of pectin-based gummies. You can pop them in your mouth and relish in the experience because it’s basically like eating candy.
2. Low serving size: In addition to coming in the form of gummies, you only have to conform to two-a-day, which is a relatively low serving size compared to some other formulas, but then again, there may be some limitations in terms of how many nutrients can fit in a lower serving size. Typically, higher serving sizes tend to contain a wider variety of nutrients as well as a higher concentration of each respective nutrient.
What I Dislike About First Day Vitamins
Now, as for the things that I dislike about First Day’s products, there are a few:
1. Not a wide variety of nutrients: I’ve hinted at this before, but compared to other brands, First Day doesn’t seem to pack a lot of nutrients, nor does it seem to have them in higher concentrations. Now, whether this is good or bad is debatable, but it’s true that for some nutrients (i.e. B12) our body is not very efficient in terms of absorption, so a higher concentration is generally preferred. This is, my experience, as someone that follows a vegan diet, at least.
2. Added sugars: I like gummies, but the issue is that oftentimes they come with added sugars— which is a relatively low dose in First Day’s multivitamin formulas (2g per serving) but it’s well-documented that excess added sugar intake is clinically shown to be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
3. Price: It’s not the most expensive multivitamin out there, but it’s still relatively expensive when considering the amount of nutrients it contain, as well as the concentration of each one. It’s true that First Day’s products fall short when compared to many other brands I’ve reviewed.
What Do Real Users Have To Say?
Here’s a video review from YouTube creator LeighsHome that talks about her experience with the women’s multivitamin formula: