Today, going vegan is considered a highly respectable dietary lifestyle choice, but it does come with questions much like this one, recently posed by vegan shoppers at Trader Joe’s – are Trader Joe’s multivitamins vegan?
Trader Joe’s is known for an eclectic selection of items at affordable prices, but the matter of vegan multivitamins is a complicated one. There are potentially non-vegan ingredients in Trader Joe’s brand multivitamins, but they also sell other brands in-store that are known to be vegan friendly.
For more on vegan-friendly multivitamin options at Trader Joe’s, read on.
Are Trader Joe’s Multivitamins Vegan?
According to vegans investigating different multivitamin brands, there are elements such as D3 and glycerin – both of which are found in Trader Joe’s Multivitamins – which are rarely vegan -friendly. These elements have the potential to be synthetically produced for vegans, but are more often animal by-products.
On the other hand, frequent shoppers at Trader Joe’s say they stock other brands which are certified vegan, and known to be excellent quality. None of these brands are found on the official website, so it’s difficult to say if all Trader Joe’s stores sell the same vitamins – including vegan options.
The Vegan Lifestyle
The vegan lifestyle is one that promotes a dietary lifestyle based solely on plants, with no animal additions of any kind.
Unlike vegetarians, this practice extends beyond simply the food they eat – veganism often governs what types of clothes are worn, as well as the use of a wide range of other products.
For the purpose of multivitamins, it means that all aspects of the vitamins must be derived from plant stock – iron must be certified non-heme, and binding ingredients like glycerin cannot be derived from animal fat – the usual source – among other things.
Unless it’s specifically labeled and certified vegan, it can be difficult to decipher if an item is truly vegan friendly.
What Common Multivitamin Components May Not Be Non-Vegan?
There are many elements known from having both animal and plant sources, but some sources of anti-vegan ingredients aren’t always obvious if you aren’t looking for them. Here’s some of the common ones to be on the alert for if you’re going vegan in your multivitamins:
- Gelatin
- D or D3
- Collagen – collagen in any form is animal based
- Magnesium stearate
- Glycerin
- Carotene
- Lipase and Pepsin
- Hyaluronic Acid
- Lethicin
- Calcium
- Iron
Most of these, barring the collagen, have plant-based sources that can be used to create your multivitamins. However, using plant-based sources is not always considered the most cost effective, and some companies will use animal sources.
If you’re not sure, then it may be necessary to contact the company that supplies that brand, and ask them what sources they use for their vitamins, or do some intense market research.
Trader Joe’s Brand Multivitamin Ingredients
There’s no guarantee that Trader Joe’s brand multivitamins are NOT vegan – but they aren’t marketed as such, which means there is some question as to where their manufacturer sources certain ingredients.
If you’re a fan fo Trader Joe’s products, or if you have some and you’re wondering if you can use them even when going vegan, here’s some things to be aware of and do your research on for each of their multivitamin lines:
Trader Joe’s Multivitamin ; Mineral Antioxidant:
This all-in-one multivitamin has the following ingredients to be aware of, besides the iron and calcium.
- D3
- Glycerin
Everything else on the vegan ‘watch list’ is billed as being vegetable based.
Trader Joe’s Women’s Formula Multivitamin:
This women’s multivitamin has a number of uncertain elements, including some not on the general ‘watch for’ list.
- D3
- Amino Acid Chelate complexes (usually plant based, but not always)
- Lipase
Trader Joe’s Men’s Once Daily Multivitamins:
There’s very little listed for this brand, and no listings of ingredients, but the listed ingredients available online have no non-vegan elements listed.
Trader Joe’s High Potency Multivitamin:
There’s very little listed for this particular Trader Joe’s vitamin, but the following were listed:
- D3
All other potentially non-vegan elements that were mentioned were listed as plant based.
Vegan Friendly Multivitamins – Other Brands:
Trader Joe’s isn’t the only brand of Multivitamin – and definitely not the only option for Vegans! Here’s some known vegan-friendly multivitamin brands you can check out:
- Future Kind +: Vegan Complete Multivitamin, Vegan Kids Multivitamin, and Essential Vegan Multivitamin
- Wholier: Wholier Multi for Plant-Based People
- NOW: Now Daily Vits Vitamin and Mineral
- Mykind Organics: Garden of Life Multivitamin
- Deva: Deva’s Multivitamin and Mineral
- Amazon: Amazon Elements Multivitamin
- Doctor’s Best: Doctor’s Best Multivitamin
- Abundant Earth Labs: Abundant Earth’s Whole Foods Organic Multivitamin
- Ritual: Ritual Multivitamins
- Goli
- Hello Bello
Where Are These Brands Sold?
You can find all of these on Amazon.com, or their individual websites. But for those who need their multivitamins sooner than online shopping will allow, you can look in these locations for your multivitamins:
Trader Joe’s:
Trader Joe’s sells the following brand of known vegan-friendly multivitamin:
- Garden of Life Mykind Organic
Target:
Target sells the following brands of vegan-friendly branded multivitamins:
- Garden of Life Mykind Organics
- Goli
- Hello Bello
The Vitamin Shoppe:
The Vitamin Shoppe sells the following vegan-friendly brands:
- Garden of Life Mykind Organics
- Mary Ruth
- Formula VM-75
Walmart:
Walmart sells the following vegan-friendly brands:
- Hello Bello
- Goli
- Deva Nutrition
- NOW
- Garden if Life Mykind Organics
- Vegan Vitality
Note: All of these locations sell multiple types of multivitamins, so you can find the type that best suits your needs, whether you’re shopping for Teens, Kids, Women’s, Men’s, Over 55, or a generic one-for-all.
Final Thoughts
The vegan-friendly nature of Trader Joe’s branded multivitamins is up for debate, and determining the truth might take some calls and careful research on your part. However, there are options, and you don’t even need to leave Trader Joe’s to find them.
If you aren’t sure about the Trader Joe branded vitamins, you can check to see if they have Mykind Organic Garden of Life multivitamins that suit your needs.
Or check out what else they have to offer. With Trader Joe’s, there’s a good chance you’ll find something that works for you, or their friendly staff can point you in the right direction.