I first heard about Ten Ten (텐텐) from another mom at my son’s taekwondo class. Her kids had been taking them for over a year, and she swore by those little chewable tablets. Being the skeptical parent I am, I did not just grab a bottle off the pharmacy shelf. I spent three weeks reading ingredient lists, comparing products, and asking our pediatrician uncomfortable questions. Here is what I found out, stripped of all the marketing noise.
What Are Ten Ten Chewable Tablets?
Ten Ten (텐텐) is manufactured by Kwang Dong Pharmaceutical (광동제약), one of Korea’s established pharma companies that has been around since 1963. The product is classified as a health functional food (건강기능식품), not a medicine. That classification matters because it means it has been reviewed by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) for safety but is not held to the same efficacy standards as a pharmaceutical drug.
The tablets come in a small, flat, round shape and have a sweet yogurt-like flavor that most kids actually enjoy. My son, who fights me on literally everything from brushing teeth to wearing socks, pops his Ten Ten without complaint. That alone is worth something.
Ingredient Breakdown: What Is Actually Inside
I pulled the ingredient list directly from the box, and here is what each tablet contains:
- Vitamin A: 210 ug RE (30% of the recommended daily value for children aged 6-8)
- Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): 0.42 mg
- Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 0.48 mg
- Vitamin B6: 0.45 mg
- Vitamin C: 27 mg
- Vitamin D: 3 ug (this is 120 IU, which I found low)
- Vitamin E: 3.3 mg alpha-TE
- Niacin (B3): 4.5 mg NE
- Folic acid: 72 ug
- Zinc: 2.7 mg
The “Ten Ten” name comes from the 10 key nutrients packed into each tablet. The base formula is a standard multivitamin, comparable to what you would find in Flintstones or Centrum Kids internationally.
My Honest Assessment After 8 Months of Use
My son (6 years old) and daughter (4) have been taking Ten Ten daily since last spring. Here is what I have actually observed versus what I expected.
What I noticed: My son used to get mouth sores (구내염) roughly once a month. Since starting Ten Ten, he has had exactly two episodes in eight months. That could be coincidence, or it could be the B-vitamin complex doing its job. Our pediatrician said B2 and B6 deficiencies are common causes of recurring mouth sores in Korean kids whose diets are rice-heavy.
What I did not notice: No magical energy boost, no dramatic immune system transformation. My kids still caught the usual daycare colds. I did not expect miracles, but I mention it because some online reviews read like Ten Ten cured everything short of a broken leg.
What my kids think: They like the taste. Period. They treat it as a daily candy, which makes compliance effortless. My daughter sometimes asks for a second one, which I do not give.
Pricing and Where to Buy
Ten Ten pricing varies significantly by where you shop. Here is a comparison I put together in early 2026:
- Local pharmacy (약국): One box (60 tablets, 2-month supply) runs about 12,000 – 15,000 KRW
- Olive Young: Usually priced at 12,500 – 13,000 KRW, occasionally on sale for around 10,000 KRW during promotions
- Coupang: 10,500 – 12,000 KRW per box, with Rocket Delivery. Multi-pack bundles (3 boxes) drop the per-box price to around 9,500 KRW
- Naver Shopping: Comparable to Coupang, sometimes slightly cheaper from smaller sellers
At the Coupang bulk price, that works out to roughly 160 won per day per child. I spend more on a single banana.
How Ten Ten Compares to Other Korean Kids’ Vitamins
I did not stop at Ten Ten. I compared it against five other popular options on the Korean market.
Lemona Kids (레모나 키즈)
Made by Kyungnam Pharmaceutical, Lemona is probably the most iconic vitamin brand in Korea. The kids’ version comes in powder sachets rather than chewable tablets. It is essentially a high-dose vitamin C supplement (500 mg per sachet) with some added B vitamins. It tastes strongly of lemon, and my daughter refused it after the first try. Lemona is not really a multivitamin; it is a vitamin C supplement wearing a multivitamin costume. About 8,000-10,000 KRW for 30 sachets.
Hol Hol Vitamin (홀홀비타민)
A newer entrant targeting the “clean ingredient” market. No artificial colors or sweeteners. The gummy format is popular, but I found the vitamin D content (2 ug) even lower than Ten Ten. Around 18,000 KRW for a 60-count bottle, making it pricier than Ten Ten for a comparable supply.
Chong Kun Dang Kids Multivitamin (종근당 키즈 멀티비타민)
A solid mid-range option from another major Korean pharma company. The formulation is similar to Ten Ten but adds iron (4 mg) and calcium (50 mg), which Ten Ten lacks. If your child is a picky eater who avoids dairy and meat, Chong Kun Dang might be the better pick. Priced around 15,000-18,000 KRW for a 90-tablet bottle.
International Options: Centrum Kids, Nature Made, etc.
Available at iHerb or Costco Korea. Generally more expensive (20,000-30,000 KRW for comparable supplies) and sometimes harder for Korean kids to swallow due to larger tablet sizes. The formulations tend to include higher vitamin D doses (10-15 ug), which is one area where they genuinely outperform Korean products.
The Vitamin D Problem Nobody Talks About
This is my biggest gripe with Ten Ten and most Korean kids’ vitamins. The vitamin D content is too low. My pediatrician recommends 400-600 IU (10-15 ug) daily for children, especially in Korea where kids spend significant time indoors at hagwon and daycare. Ten Ten provides only 120 IU (3 ug). That is 20-30% of what many pediatricians consider adequate.
I ended up buying a separate vitamin D drop supplement (비타민 D 드롭) from Yuhan Corporation (유한양행). It costs about 12,000 KRW for a 3-month supply and delivers 400 IU per drop. One drop on the morning rice, and we are covered. This is the single most important supplementation advice I give to other parents: regardless of which multivitamin you choose, add a standalone vitamin D supplement.
Do Korean Kids Actually Need a Daily Multivitamin?
I asked our pediatrician this directly. Her answer was nuanced. A child eating a genuinely varied Korean diet, including plenty of vegetables (나물), fish, meat, dairy, and fruit, probably does not need a multivitamin. But she acknowledged that the reality of modern Korean childhood, involving picky eating phases, heavy reliance on processed snacks, and limited outdoor time, means most kids have at least mild deficiencies in D, iron, and certain B vitamins.
My approach: I treat Ten Ten as cheap insurance. At 160 won per day, the downside risk is essentially zero (water-soluble vitamins just get excreted if unneeded), and the potential upside, filling nutritional gaps on those days when my son eats nothing but rice and seaweed, is real enough to justify the habit.
Final Thoughts from One Parent to Another
Ten Ten is a solid, affordable, kid-approved daily multivitamin. It is not magical, it is not complete (supplement vitamin D separately), and it is not a substitute for actual vegetables on the dinner plate. But it does what it claims to do: delivers 10 essential nutrients in a format that kids will actually take without a wrestling match every morning. For the price of a convenience store triangle kimbap per month, I consider it a reasonable addition to my kids’ routine.
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If your child has specific health concerns, allergies, or is on any medication, talk to your pediatrician before starting any supplement. And if your child will not take tablets at all, the Chong Kun Dang gummy format or the Hol Hol gummies might be worth trying first, even at a slightly higher price point. The best vitamin is the one your kid actually eats.
