The Research-Backed Women’s Vitamin Brand We Love

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About somewhere between day 3 and day 33 of staying home amid the coronavirus crisis, I realized now is probably a good time to be more diligent about taking my daily multivitamin. With grocery shortages and an emphasis on pantry cooking, it’s safe to say many of us aren’t getting as many vitamins and minerals as we’re used to from consuming a wider range of food.

I’m happy to report that now on day-who-even-knows of cabin fever, I’m happily chasing a vitamin with breakfast each morning—all thanks to Ritual. And I’m not alone in my allegiance to the gluten- and allergen-free, vegan, and non-GMO vitamins that contain no synthetic fillers: Ritual is currently selling a bottle of multivitamins approximately every 16 seconds right now. Like Netflix or Instacart, the brand uses a subscription model to help keep your costs down and ensure you never face one of those “oops, I’m out vitamins” days that we all know can drag into months before you head to the health food store for a restock.

Ritual vitamins are also science-driven and clinically-tested to ensure that you get maximum absorption out of the nutrients each vitamin contains. For instance, some nutrients are difficult for some women to utilize efficiently. Take folic acid, which up to a third of women have difficulties efficiently utilizing. Accordingly, Ritual uses MTHF folate which bypasses this genetic variation so the nutrient can be efficiently utilized by all women.

As of May 2020, the brand has three products on its roster:

  • Essential for Women 18+: “The clinical-backed multivitamin, Essential for Women works smarter to help fill the gaps in your diet. It supports blood and organ health, healthy aging, and bone integrity,” per the website’s description.  
  • Essential for Prenatal: “The next-generation prenatal with 12 essential nutrients for your body and baby, before and during pregnancy,” per the website’s description. Be sure to check out our list of the best vegan prenatal vitamins.
  • Essential for Women 50+: The newest in their lineup, this vitamin is for women post-menopause and contains “…8 essential nutrients to support normal immune function and help you build a stronger foundation for health, from within,” per the website’s description.

Beyond the science fueling each formulation, Ritual also goes to great lengths to ensure its creating a high quality product for its consumers. “Now, more than ever consumers deserve to know what they’re putting in their bodies and why. At Ritual, every ingredient, form, and formulation is obsessively researched by their in-house team of scientists and researchers,” as the brand puts it in a company statement. “Ritual’s commitment to traceability and transparency even led to the first of its kind traceable supply chain.”

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Bonus for the environment: 83% of Ritual’s updated packaging is made out of 83% recycled materials.

Bonus for your body: The so-called “no-nausea capsule design” makes the pills easy to take on an empty stomach and allows for delayed release.

Bonus for all women: Dare we say it, but taking our multi now borders on fun.

Perri O. Blumberg