Vitamins & Minerals

There are a number of vitamin and mineral products which now specifically target both pregnancy and also importantly the period of lactation.

Generally speaking, the vitamin and mineral requirements during pregnancy are marginally higher than the levels recommended for adults. There are however some vitamins and minerals where advice is somewhat different to that for adults and these are summarised below.

 

Vitamin A – excessive levels of vitamin A intake are known to be associated with a greater risk of harmful effects on the developing foetus. Despite the risk of problems being small, even with high intake levels, it is prudent to restrict total dietary intake to 700mcg in pregnant women, and as such most vitamin and mineral supplements aimed at pregnancy contain little or no vitamin A.

 

Beta carotene which is converted to vitamin A in the body is often included in these formulations as this does not exert the same risk as preformed vitamin A and the belief is that beta carotene is present if the body needs to synthesise vitamin A.

 

Folic Acid – it is now established that deficiency in Folic Acid levels in the mother can lead to a risk of neural tube defects occurring in the developing foetus. This is particularly relevant in the first three months of pregnancy and hence intake levels of Folic Acid during this time should be between 400-800mcg with at least 400mcg being maintained throughout pregnancy. 

 

Vitamins C and E – there was some original evidence that high levels of Vitamins C and E were helpful in reducing risk of pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. This evidence has now been contra-indicated and evidence now suggests that these vitamins should not be provided above 120mg and 30mg respectively. 

 

Calcium and Magnesium – it is important that these minerals are provided at RDA levels as a minimum during pregnancy, and bearing in mind that very few multivitamin and mineral products provide more than about 25% of the RDA of these minerals, a separate calcium / magnesium / vitamin D product should be considered alongside a good quality multivitamin and mineral.

 

Please refer to Omega-3 section for advice on critical requirements for Omega-3s during pregnancy and lactation.