Here's a look at the upgrades we made to Advanced Prenatal - in numbers: 13 additional nutrients, 6 with boosted doses, 9 minerals in bioavailable forms and more. In total, we brought 29 improvements to prenatal vitamins to help women build a stronger foundation.
13 additional key nutrients
The first thing you may notice about Ovaterra’s Advanced Prenatal may be the serving size. Instead of the common one-a-day tablet format, Advanced Prenatal comes in daily pouches of 6 capsules. There’s a reason: There physically isn’t enough room to cram all the essential preconception and prenatal nutrients into one tablet – especially at impactful doses. Advanced Prenatal contains 13 more nutrients than our previous prenatals, to help you build a stronger prenatal foundation.
- 550 mcg of brain-building choline: This may be the most important upgrade. Choline is necessary for the development of the baby’s brain in utero. Yet, 90-95% of women who get pregnant are estimated to be deficient in choline. As an indispensable component of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, it also plays a role in the healthy functioning of the brain. Advanced Prenatal supplies 550 mcg, a full daily need for pregnant and nursing women.
- A full suite of energy-producing B vitamins: In addition to Vitamin B6 and B12, Advanced Prenatal supplies 5 other metabolism-driving B vitamins to support the baby’s growth, as well as the mom’s energy level. This includes Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2, which is also necessary for the body to generate B6), Niacin (B3) and Pantothenic acid (B5).
- 6 additional key minerals: Minerals play a crucial role in the preconception and prenatal periods. We added 6 minerals that are particularly important during this time: Zinc, a versatile mineral that supports normal fetal development during pregnancy, healthy immune functions, DNA synthesis and cell division; selenium, an antioxidant and a component of proteins that are critical for reproduction, thyroid hormone metabolism and DNA synthesis; copper, another antioxidant-mineral that supports formation of fetal organs, including blood vessels and brain, as well as health during pregnancy; manganese, a building block of enzymes that drive metabolism, bone formation, reproduction and immune response; chromium, which may support carbohydrate metabolism by amplifying the functions of insulin; and molybdenum, a component of an enzyme that drives amino acid metabolism and detoxification of drugs and toxins.
- 2 additional vitamins in bioavailable forms: Advanced Prenatal supplies two additional key vitamins: Vitamin K2 in the MK-4 form, which works with Vitamin D3 to maintain healthy bones and teeth; and Vitamin A in the retinyl palmitate form, which supports vision, cellular signaling, immune function and reproductive processes in both men and women.
6 nutrients with boosted doses
6 nutrients got a boost in doses so that you get a more impactful amount.
- Magnesium: Involved in more than 300 enzymatic actions, magnesium is a versatile mineral. Its supportive functions include blood pressure regulation, blood sugar control, muscle and nerve function and maintenance of homeostasis – all important functions during pregnancy, which is a high-stress period for the body.
- Vitamin C: This is a versatile antioxidant that supports immune function and health of connective tissues and skin. Advanced Prenatal is one of the few prenatal vitamins that supply 500 mg of Vitamin C per day.
- Vitamin D: This “sunshine vitamin” may support reproductive and prenatal health, as well as plays a supportive role in bone health through bone mineralization and calcium absorption. Advanced Prenatal supplies 4,000 IU/day, which should be enough to achieve healthy serum levels of Vitamin D for most women.
- Vitamin E: Advanced Prenatal supplies 134 mg of Vitamin E, an antioxidant that’s literally indispensable for normal reproductive processes in women.
- Vitamin B12: This is a crucial vitamin during preconception and early pregnancy. Along with folate and choline, Vitamin B12 supports the baby’s brain development and red blood cell production. Advanced Prenatal supplies 50 mcg.
- Biotin: Biotin is a B vitamin that studies have suggested to support embryonic development. Some recent studies have suggested that during pregnancy and lactation, women may need much more biotin than the current recommended amount of biotin. Based on this development, biotin dose has been boosted to 350 mcg.
9 minerals in more bioavailable forms
Minerals are difficult for our body to absorb. Scientists know more about absorption mechanism of some minerals (like calcium and iron) than others, and some minerals are better absorbed than others, but in some cases less than 1% of the minerals we ingest are actually absorbed and utilized by the body.
This is not only inefficient and wasteful. Some of that unabsorbed minerals can contribute to gastrointestinal issues like nausea, diarrhea and constipation – not a welcome situation at any time, but particularly during pregnancy.
There have been some recent studies suggesting that chelated forms of minerals may be better absorbed than others. While this is still a developing area of research, where possible, we selected these pregnancy-friendly forms of minerals to ensure more efficient absorption.
- Calcium in di-calcium malate form: Getting adequate amount of calcium is crucial not just for the baby’s skeletal development but also to protect the mom’s bones and teeth.
- Chelated iron: As a component of hemoglobin, iron is necessary to carry oxygen to the developing baby and supports healthy growth and neurological development.
- 7 other chelated minerals: Magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese, chromium, selenium and molybdenum in Advanced Prenatal are all in chelated forms.
There is another side to this that we should note: Our bodies have an amazing ability to regulate the amount of minerals it takes up and avoid toxic effects from too much of the good thing. For example, calcium absorption rate changes depending on our calcium intake. So, it’s important to choose prenatal vitamins that supply the right amount of minerals – not too little, but not too much, either.
1 nutrient – folate – in MTHFR variant-friendly form
Our previous prenatal vitamins supplied 1,000 mcg of folic acid. Folic acid – or its reduced form, folate, is a B vitamin that is essential for the development of the baby’s central nervous system, i.e., the brain and spinal cord.
While keeping the dosage roughly the same, Advanced Prenatal switched to using natural folate (methylfolate), instead of the synthetic folic acid. The natural folate is already in an active, reduced form, meaning that the body doesn’t need to generate it from folic acid.
Recent studies have suggested that women with some common variants of the MTHFR gene (that affect up to 20% of women in some ethnic groups) have difficulty with this conversion process. These women may not be generating as much folate as they need – and assume, based on the amount of folic acid in their diet and prenatal vitamins. Taking prenatal vitamins with already reduced folate has been suggested by some studies as a way to ensure adequate folate levels for women with these MTHFR variants.
