If you’re pregnant or trying to become pregnant, you may have wondered about the differences between prenatal vitamins and other multivitamin supplements.
Prenatals vs. multivitamins is an important consideration for expectant mothers; however, prenatal vitamins are essential for supporting you and your baby by filling nutritional gaps in your diet. While a regular multivitamin might contain many of the same components as a prenatal, it won’t offer them in sufficient amounts for an expectant mother.
It takes a lot of resources to grow a baby, and prenatal vitamins benefit your body, ensuring your baby has a healthy head start in life while attending to your own body’s needs.
Most Important Vitamins and Nutrients for Pregnancy
Here are some of the most important vitamins and nutrients for pregnancy:
Folic Acid
You have likely heard about the importance of folic acid, or folate, for pregnant women. Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps prevent neural tube defects (NTDs), which are severe birth defects affecting a baby’s brain and spine, including spina bifida and anencephaly. The FDA recommends that pregnant women—and all women who could become pregnant—consume 400 mcg of folic acid daily. It’s especially important that women begin consuming folic acid even before trying to conceive because NTDs can develop as early as the first month of pregnancy.
Iron
During pregnancy, your blood volume doubles. Pregnancy and lactation both increase the body’s demand for iron, which is necessary to support healthy fetal and placental development. Being pregnant can put you at a higher risk of iron deficiency anemia, which can be dangerous to both you and your baby; it can make you feel fatigued and weak and lead to premature labor, low birth weight, and birth asphyxia.
Choline
Researchers are increasingly attentive to the role of choline, a “brain-building nutrient” that’s essential for pregnant women and young children. Studies show that maintaining adequate choline intake during pregnancy improves offspring cognition and neurodevelopment. But most pregnant women in the U.S. aren’t receiving the recommended 450-550 mg a day of choline.
In summary, a good prenatal vitamin is essential to meeting the unique needs of a developing baby and expectant mother by providing critical nutrients in doses not found in a regular multivitamin.
In summary, a good prenatal vitamin is essential to meeting the unique needs of a developing baby and expectant mother by providing critical nutrients in doses not found in a regular multivitamin. Ovaterra’s Advanced Prenatal Vitamins with Choline provide 24 vitamins and minerals in their most bioavailable forms, including 750 mcg DFE of folate, 25 mg of iron, and 550 mg of choline. This makes it the only prenatal vitamin on the market that offers sufficient choline to meet daily recommendations. And, of course, in addition to regularly taking your prenatal vitamins, it’s important to maintain a healthy, balanced diet throughout your pregnancy!
