Prenatal Multivitamins

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hey Jordan,

First, I wasn’t sure if this was medical or nutrition because it has somewhat of an overlap between them technically but nutrition seemed the more logical place.

So my wife and I are looking to start trying to have kids later this year and we’ve talked lots of different things because this is not a small journey to embark on and one of the things that has come up is prenatal vitamins. She has a friend who is a midwife and is insisting she try to be on “whole food” prenatal. My problem with this is that they seem to be even more expensive, talk about things like Non-GMO (which is an immediate red flag for me because all fruit and vegetable have been modified either now or over the last few thousands years of human agriculture) and don’t seem to be GMP or USP verified ever so they could very well be putting a bunch of random stuff in there because no one is checking.

I did my best to do some googling and the best I could find is the Mayo Clinic saying you should take a prenatal multi and talking about some key vitamins plus their respective levels to look for. Everything else was lay articles latching onto random singular studies saying it may prevent Autism or do nothing, etc.

From a research standpoint in the aggregate, should she take a prenatal and does it matter if it is “whole food” or conventional?

Thanks for your insight.

2

We agree with The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology’s nutritional recommendations for pregnant women, which state that women who are looking to become pregnant or who are pregnant should take a prenatal vitamin containing key nutrients, such as folic acid (folate), calcium, iron, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; an omega- 3 fatty acid). Other minerals and vitamins (eg, vitamins C, D, and E, and B vitamins) may also be included. Many prenatal vitamins are formulated with omega-3 fatty acids to aid in fetal brain and eye development. Pregnant women should obtain at least 200 mg of DHA daily.

I am not familiar with the “whole food” prenatal movement, but that is not currently evidence-based and I would recommend following your physician’s advice. I would also avoid lay articles on this unless accompanied by the appropriate credentials.

3

You can try vitamin code for your wife , its made with whole food ingredients and is designed to support a healthy pregnancy. Check more info about it here
https://fernandaadrielesilva.com/9-b…natal-vitamins​