Prenatal vitamins are essential for the health of your unborn baby. During pregnancy, your daily intake requirements for certain nutrients, such as folic acid (folate), calcium, and iron will increase.
Vitamins and minerals such as iron, calcium, and folic acid are vital for proper fetal growth, development, and healthy adult living. To help increase your chances of creating a healthy and nutritious environment in which your baby can develop, it is important that you establish a well-balanced diet and exercise routine before you get pregnant.
While taking prenatal vitamins can be beneficial, they should not be used as a substitution for a balanced diet in conjunction with regular exercise and prenatal care. Make sure you talk to your doctor for the best advice regarding your particular case, as well as for having your blood levels tested for different vitamins and minerals.
This article will serve as guidance to get an overview of the most important vitamins and minerals to take during pregnancy. This information is not a substitute for medical advice for your particular case.
What nutrients to look for in prenatal vitamins?
Most prenatal vitamins provide calcium, vitamin A, vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin B7 (biotin), vitamin B9 (folic acid) or folate, vitamin B12 (cobalamin), vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin D.
Vitamin D supports a healthy pregnancy
Research indicates that an estimated 33% of pregnant women in the U.S. do not get enough vitamin D. Emerging research strongly links vitamin D to a reduced risk of pregnancy complications, so it appears that vitamin D is also critical for maintaining a healthy pregnancy.
How much vitamin D should you be taking? In a study comparing doses of 400, 2000 and 4000 IU/ day in pregnant women from early pregnancy (12 – 16 weeks) to delivery, researchers found that 4000 IU was the most effective at safely increasing vitamin D blood levels. Dosing is often more of an art than a science, and the best thing to do is get your vitamin D levels tested and talk to your doctor about what dose is right for you.
Choline benefits pregnancy and beyond
For mothers, the benefits of increased choline intake are linked to a reduced risk of certain complications during pregnancy.
A recent study evaluating the top 25 prenatal vitamins found that none contained the daily-recommended choline intake for a pregnant woman, and over half contained none at all. Make sure you are consuming enough choline through your diet, and supplement as needed.
The foods that have the most choline include eggs (egg yolk in particular), beef, salmon, code, chicken breast, shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, kidney beans, quinoa. Animal sources of choline contain typically two times more choline than vegetable sources.
Vegans and vegetarians have a greater risk of choline deficiency. Therefore, it’s critical they supplement with choline during pregnancy.
DHA – an omega-3 fatty acid – is a key building block for babies development
Pregnant women need a minimum of 300 mg of DHA a day. Because many prenatal vitamins do not contain DHA, it means that pregnant women need to obtain their daily minimum through fatty fish or fish oil.
This can be difficult to achieve with prenatal vitamins, so it’s best to eat fatty fish or take fish oil capsules. It’s also important to limit the consumption of fish with potential traces of mercury, since this can harm a developing baby.
The American Pregnancy Association recommends Nordic Naturals’ selection of liquid supplements including: Vitamin D3, Omega-3D, Artic-D Cod Liver Oil, Children’s DHA Xtra.
Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega
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Best Prenatal Vitamins of 2023
Ritual Prenatal Vitamin
This multivitamin formula is perfect for expecting mothers. It’s formulated with key nutrients for before and during pregnancy, including Omega-3 DHA, Choline, and Folate.
It’s non-GMO project verified and NSF verified to ensure customers that products have been produced according to best practices for GMO avoidance.
With Smart Capsule you can have the best of both worlds in a single capsule, because it is a revolutionary new technology that acts like a barrier system to keep fat- and water-soluble forms of vitamins separated, within a single capsule.
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Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA
Nordic Naturals is one of the most trusted, award-winning brands of Omega-3.
When you are expecting a baby, Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA is an ideal choice for a daily supplement: we carefully choose the specific fish oil for its high concentration of DHA, best purity and freshness.
Award-winning prenatal DHA – Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA won the Top-Notch Award from Taste for Life, and is the Official Omega-3 of the American Pregnancy Association.
Every batch of Nordic Naturals fish oil is crafted from fresh, wild-caught, omega-rich fish. Nordic Naturals is committed to using only non-GMO, gluten- and dairy-free ingredients with no artificial colors or preservatives.
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Choosing the right vitamins ultimately comes down to the nutrients involved. Vitamin D is especially important and should be taken on a regular basis, especially by those with known deficiencies.
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