Things You and Your Doctor Should Consider in Selecting Your Prenatal Vitamins

Part of keeping your body and your offspring healthy during your pregnancy is to drink prenatal vitamins. There are natural sources of prenatal vitamins and there are supplements that help you meet the daily dose requirement of calcium, iron, DHA, choline, folic acid, and other nutrients. Combining a healthy and balanced diet with appropriate vitamin intake, your baby is fortified with the necessary nutrients for development. But before you secure any prenatal vitamin prescribed by your doctor, here are seven concerns you and your doctor should know about pregnancy vitamins.

By Ragesoss (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

 What to Avoid in Selecting Your Prenatal Vitamins

1. Poor Quality: Most prenatal vitamins contain poor quality, synthetic forms of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants—like the synthetic form of B12 called Cyanocobalamin (that's harder on your liver), and the cheap Calcium Carbonate. With these forms, you and your baby won't get the nutrients you need!

2. Inadequate Potency: Most have inadequate potency (not enough for baby and mom, based on current research). You can't expect to magically make a perfect loaf of bread from a teaspoon of flour, and you can't expect to create a healthy baby without enough nutrients either! Here's an example: folic acid. Most prenatals contain 400 mcg of folic acid, but new research indicates that you and your baby really need 800 mcg!

3. Tablet Form: Most are hard to digest due to being highly compressed and covered with waxes, such as carnauba wax. This stuff is great for waxing cars and protecting the noses of jet airplanes, but your stomach can't penetrate it! There are true stories of "port-a-potties" being emptied with hundreds of undigested multivitamins found at the bottom.

4. No Omega-3s: Most prenatal vitamins DO NOT contain optimal Omega-3 fatty acids that build the baby's nervous system and cells. If they are included, they're probably not enough or certified free of dangerous heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, aluminum and PCBs (environmental toxins). They also may not be in the needed amounts.

5. Calcium & Iron Together: Iron and Calcium should be taken at separate times of the day. Why? Calcium binds to iron, interfering with the absorption of both—they cancel each other out. Not good for you or your baby's health.

6. Missing Nutrients: Most prenatal vitamins don't contain key nutrients (like CoQ10 and alpha lipoic acid) that truly help the body produce an abundance of natural energy—something all pregnant moms need. These powerhouse nutrients are expensive and rarely included in prenatal vitamins.

7. No Concern for Your Troubles: Most prenatals also don't address specific problems many pregnant women experience, such as insomnia and morning sickness. There are natural solutions to these concerns.

Read more: http://www.justmommies.com/articles/prenatal-vitamins.shtml#ixzz27gtJuer5

Pregnancy vitamins differ in composition. It is important that you have adequate knowledge on what you put into your body. Make it a habit to read some information about your supplement. This will help you in choosing what is best for you and your little one. Beware and be aware!

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