This vitamin was formulated for modern women ages 18-50. It can be safe and useful for those outside this range as well, but we suggest consulting your physician first.

Yes. Our Founder and CEO is vegan, so creating a vitamin suitable for vegans was one of our priorities. Read more about Kat’s vitamin journey here. 

Yes.

While Essential for Women is safe for pregnant/breastfeeding women, it may not have enough of some key nutrients if it is your only source of supplementation. When pregnant, we recommend talking to your physician about any supplementation. Let us know if a pre/post-natal is something you’d like us to develop.

By law, the FDA does not approve dietary supplements. But, the FDA does regulate both dietary supplements and dietary ingredients. At Ritual, we follow what the FDA established for dietary supplements in 2007 called "current Good Manufacturing Practice" (cGMP) regulations requiring that manufacturers evaluate their products through testing identity, purity, strength, and composition. We not only tested for stability with our manufacturers, but also did 3rd-party testing for potency of active ingredients, adulterants like heavy metals and microbes, allergens, rancidity and other unwanted contaminants. As a consumer, we think it’s important to do your own due diligence as well. That’s why Ritual has made it so easy for you to learn about our products and where they come from. Read about the origins and innovations behind our ingredients here.

Never.

Yes. Our ingredients are organic whenever the nutrient is coming from plants.

Yes. None of our ingredients are derived from Genetically Modified Organisms.

Yes, the plastic bottle and cap are both BPA free! They're also recyclable ♻️

The product is manufactured in the United States by a leading manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and supplements. The company uses a patented method to fill vegetarian capsules with oil and beadlets. We’re really into it. Read why here.

We obsessively keep track of everything that goes into our products, including undesirable contaminants. Ingredients extracted from natural sources can be exposed to unwanted compounds from the environment. When that type of exposure is a concern, we use a synthesized version of a nutrient (while making sure that that synthetic form is still bioidentical to its natural counterpart).

Our vitamins are best stored in a cool, dark, and dry place, away from your little ones. Keep away from heat or direct sunlight. 

Men can safely take Essential for Women, and it fills many of their nutrient deficiencies. However, it provides a little more iron than the average guy needs.

If you are diabetic or have a serious disease or adverse health condition, please contact your physician before taking any dietary supplements.

Essential for Women contains vitamin K, which may interfere with the prescription drug Warfarin (Coumadin), a blood thinner. So, don’t take Essential for Women if you also take this drug or consult your physician for further information. Other than vitamin K, the amounts and identities of our essential micronutrients are within ranges that should not impact prescription medications.

Honestly, you should just take the recommended dose. If you go against our recommendations (but why?) and accidentally double or triple the dose, there is no toxicity concern, but multiple vitamin overdose can occur when someone accidentally or intentionally takes more than the normal or recommended amount of multivitamin supplements. This is for information only and not for use in the treatment or management of an actual poison exposure. If you have an exposure, you should call your local emergency number (such as 911) or the National Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.

Some breakage of the beadlets (less than 5%) during the manufacturing process is normal and expected. If breakage occurs during manufacturing, it can appear black because of its dark raw materials. Black beadlets are nothing to worry about and does not mean that your vitamins have gone bad. We try to remove broken beadlets during our multiple inspection points throughout this process, but, if you happen to come across a black beadlet, know that this will not affect the quality of Essential for Women.

That comes from the algal oil we use as a vegan source of omega-3, which was originally developed by NASA with the goal of creating sustainable environments in space. It's awesome for you (with the same 2:1 ratio of DHA to EPA that you'd find in fish oil) and even better for the environment! You may notice the smell/taste because we don't use gelatin capsule like many other supplement brands, but our team is currently working on some updates that will eliminate this smell in the future. Stay tuned ;)

We have identified 9 vital nutrients based on the latest data of what the average American woman is not getting enough of from diet alone.

These include:

• Vitamin D3 2000 IU  
• Vitamin E 10 IU  
• Vitamin K2 MK7 90 mcg

• Folate 600 mcg  
• Vitamin B12 8 mcg

• Iron 8 mg

• Magnesium 50 mg  
• Boron 1 mg  
• Omega-3 Fatty Acids DHA & EPA 320 mg

Read more here. 

It’s an oil blend composed of algal oil (a vegetarian source of omega-3 fatty acids DHA & EPA), vitamin D3, vitamin K2 MK-7, vitamin E as Mixed Tocopherols, and silica (providing the oil with the right amount of viscosity for proper capsule filling). Learn more about the ingredients in our product here.

They’re important, but here's the thing: the average intake of vitamin C and zinc is adequate from our diets, so supplementation isn’t necessary. For potassium, the intake is generally low, however, the amount of potassium that can be added to dietary supplements is limited by the FDA to 99 mg, which would have no significant health benefit.

By combining vitamin D3, vitamin K2, boron, and magnesium, we can increase the body’s ability to better absorb and utilize calcium from the foods we already eat--so much so that actual calcium supplementation isn’t necessary at all. Pretty cool, huh? Learn more about vitamins work together here.

Better forms make for more effective vitamins, period. The best forms have better absorption, better assimilation, and are more effective in the body. Ritual designs products based on what your cells want and need, not what is cost effective on our end (and likely won't work in your body). For more information about why our forms are better, click here. 

Those are all the dry nutrients (B vitamins and minerals iron, magnesium, and boron). These special beadlets don’t interact with the oil inside the capsule. Read more about why our beadlets are so great here. 

So many reasons. First of all, our capsules are 100% vegan, which is rare. They are made from hypromellose (not gelatin), a cellulose derivative from inner-tree bark, and gellan gum, a microbial-based ingredient. The combination of these two components makes the gel capsule resistant to stomach acid, which helps prevent stomach upset and protect nutrients from acid-induced degradation.

All over the world. We traveled far and wide—and did lots of research—to find out who those best suppliers were, and we made it our mission to work only with them. We’re proud of our suppliers, so we are also the first vitamin company to share exactly where each ingredient is coming from and why we chose it. If you want to know even more, you can read our Expert Interviews from the incredible scientists, founders, and professionals from the actual companies that make our ingredients and products. To learn more about where we source our ingredients from, click here. 

Nope!

These excipients make up the capsule, inactive beadlet structure, and protect, standardize, and stabilize the active ingredients. Except for the capsule and beadlet ingredients, the other excipients are present in extremely low amounts. They have also been approved by food regulatory agencies worldwide, not to mention our rigorous requirements.

• Ascorbyl palmitate
• Citric acid
• d-alpha tocopherol
• Dicalcium phosphate
• Fractionated coconut oil
• Gellan gum
• Glucosamine (vegetarian source)
• Hypromellose
• Medium chain triglycerides
• Methylcellulose
• Mixed tocopherols
• nonGMO sunflower oil
• nonGMO Zein
• Peppermint oil
• Pregelatinized rice starch
• Rice flour
• Silica
• Sucrose esters of fatty acids
• Sunflower lecithin
• Tapioca maltodextrin
• Tricalcium phosphate
• Vanilla flavor, Natural

You do, but the thing is, with Ritual, there really is no commitment. You can cancel or skip a month during your subscription at any time from your account page. Happiness guaranteed, or your money back. So why do we offer subscription-only? Research shows the longer you take vitamins, the better they work. We’re on a mission to simplify the entire vitamin-purchasing process, which includes how it gets to you. With one click, you never have to worry about your vitamin supply again.

Mastercard, American Express, Visa, Discover, and PayPal.

$0 👍

Your first order should arrive in 5-7 business days (enough time to throw out all your other vitamins). Once the order has shipped, we'll send you an email to track it every step of the way.

Just shoot us an email at my@ritual.com, we’ll help you out!

Sorry, not now. But we’re planning our global takeover soon, so please keep checking back. Let us know which country you’d like us to ship to by emailing my@ritual.com.

Once your order is placed, we will charge your credit or debit card. Your credit or debit card will then be charged every 30 days thereafter. However, if you have any concerns regarding your payment please feel free to contact us at my@ritual.com and we will be more than happy to assist you.

Yes. However, we value customer safety, security, and privacy so you can be certain that our payment system is very secure. Our site is Level 1 PCI compliant, which means we meet the highest set of security standards designed to ensure that we maintain a secure environment.

Simply log into your account page to make those updates.

Yes. We’re all about P.O. boxes.

Of course. If you love Essential for Women and want to tell the world (or just your best friend), be sure to put in your billing information and their shipping address (And thanks!). 

We won’t take it personally (OK, we might), but if you are unhappy with your product we will offer a full refund. We’re always trying to improve, so please tell us why!

That’s too bad, we’re sad to see you go! However, if you need to cancel, just log into your account page (ritual.com/account/login) click "edit" and then scroll down to click "cancel".

Vitamins are compounds that are essential for health, but we can’t produce them on our own. Instead, we get them from the foods we eat. However, while certain vitamins (like C) are easy to get from food, others (K2, for example) are virtually impossible to get through our diets regularly.

You get some things, but not everything. Studies show that only 5% or less of the US population consumes the Daily Value for essential vitamins and minerals every day, which leads to poorer overall health. Click here to read about why we need vitamins. 

Some vitamins companies go for a “throw it at the wall” approach, loading their product with as many as thirty different ingredients or more and hoping some will stick. So yeah, that’s kind of a scam. That said, there is significant, peer-reviewed, and published research that suggests using a multivitamin is better than taking nothing at all. That’s why we set out to perfect the daily vitamin—to pare it back to only the highest quality and best ingredients, and create a product that really works in the body. We use fewer ingredients, but individually and collectively, they’re more effective.

Supplements work when taken in the right forms and dosages (like those in Ritual’s Essential for Women). Balance is really important, and studies show supplements work better the longer they are taken. Learn more about our form here. 

Very much so. The FDA regulates both dietary supplements and dietary ingredients. At Ritual, we follow what the FDA established for dietary supplements in 2007 called "current Good Manufacturing Practice" (cGMP) regulations requiring that manufacturers evaluate their products through testing identity, purity, strength, and composition. We not only tested for stability with our manufacturers, but also did 3rd-party testing for potency of active ingredients, adulterants like heavy metals and microbes, allergens, rancidity and other unwanted contaminants. As a consumer, we think it’s important to do your due diligence as well. That’s why Ritual has made it so easy for you to learn about our products and where they come from. Read about the origins and innovations behind our ingredients here. 

The best place to start is to look for vegan-friendly, allergen-free, and non-GMO products. Then, figure out what the most effective form of every nutrient is, so that you can find and take what will work best in the body. Many vitamin brands use the cheapest form of each nutrient. Often, these have minimal benefits, and sometimes they can actually do more harm than good. For more information about how our ingredients stack up, read our series This vs. That.

We only know what the label tells us, and unfortunately, many don’t show the full story. We think that’s not right and, frankly, pretty bogus. At Ritual, we focus on an open-source, open-story approach: Our first-of-its-kind open-source nutrient database gives consumers the ability to trace each ingredient back to its original source. Read more about where each nutrient is coming from, why we’ve included it, and what it does in the body here.

Yes, supplements are exceedingly safe, but as the customer and supplement-taker, you should always pay strict attention to directions and dosages and follow them carefully. At Ritual, one of our core beliefs is balance. We recommend taking only what's necessary in its most effective form. Ritual uses active and absorbable forms of essential nutrients that are found in our food and cells, rather than cheaper forms that require the body to expend additional energy breaking them down into useable forms.

Yes, when done right (like Essential for Women). Deficiencies of folate, magnesium, and vitamin D3 are known to shorten telomeres, the ends of chromosomes in your cell nuclei. Shorter telomeres are a sign of aging, but you can actually preserve or lengthen them by repleting those deficient nutrients. To read more about the nutrients that help fight aging, click here.

As a general rule, we think that if you can’t find an ingredient in food, you shouldn’t find it in your supplement. Ritual has strict criteria for ingredients, including the excipients we use. 90% of other vitamins contain one or more of the following ingredients:

• Petroleum byproducts (source for most vitamins)
• Coal tar derivatives (intermediates in some B vitamins production)
• Polyethylene glycol (industrial antifreeze)
• PVP (Povidone® or polyvinyl pyrrolidone, a synthetic plastic)
• Titanium dioxide (indigestible white colorant and opacifier)
• Talc (magnesium trisilicate)
• Stearates (magnesium stearate, stearic acid)
• Mineral oil (causes vitamin deficiencies)
• Carrageenan (can lead to gastrointestinal inflammation)
• Parabens (hormone disruptors)
• Ion-exchange resins (plastics typically used for Vitamin B12 and not listed)
• Gelatin (cow skin & bones)
• Artificial colorants (carcinogens)
• Artificial flavors or sweeteners