Choosing The Best Prenatal Vitamins

Welcome to our blog on choosing the best prenatal vitamin.

At our clinic, we work with both male and female fertility and understand the importance of holistic care in your journey to parenthood.

Selecting the right prenatal vitamin can be straightforward with the proper guidance. Here's a quick checklist to help you choose a top-quality prenatal multivitamin.

Additionally, consider incorporating Acupuncture into your routine. Our specialised Acupuncture treatments complement your prenatal care by naturally working with your fertility.

Learn more about Fertility Acupuncture in general.

The first rule of picking a multivitamin

ONLY have Activated Folate NOT folic acid.
Folic acid is hard to absorb by the body and mucks up your methylation pathways, making it hard to detoxify the body and absorb B vitamins, like folate!
Folic acid is often used because its cheaper to produce, but that does not mean it’s better for you.

Forms of good bioavailable folate include 5-MTHF folate, levomefolic acid and folinic acid.

Want to see more research on this?
Dr Ben Lynch has plenty of info and resources on folic acid.
This article explains the difference between the types of folate. and this article explains what happens with folic acid in pregnancy.

You need LOTS of iron

Unless you have Haemochromatosis (a genetic disorder), your prenatal NEEDS to have iron in it.

24mg a day is ideal.

Women in general need at least 18mg per day of iron (a steak only has 4mg, chicken and spinach even less than that) and that requirement jumps up to 24mg when pregnant. Stay mindful of any gut issues which compromise your ability to absorb iron.

I recently wrote a great blog on how iron affects fertility, which you can read here

The type of B12 you take matters

If Cyanocobalamin is the type of Vitamin B12 in your prenatal - ditch it.

It’s cheap, nasty, and hard for your body to use. It can also disrupt methylation pathways (reducing how well your body detoxifies and uses B vitamins).
You need B12 to help carry around iron around the body, especially if you're vegetarian.

Hydroxocobalamin, Adenosylcobalamin or Methylcobalamin are easy forms for your body to use. Some people may need differing types but these 3 are generally well-tolerated.

Vitamins & minerals help make babies

Your body needs an array of vitamins and minerals to keep it functioning happily and well enough to take on extra tasks (like making great eggs, lining and sperm). Your body doesn’t only need folate or iron, but a whole bunch of vitamins to keep your beautiful body humming along and ready to make babies.

While you may need to top up a certain vitamin or mineral for a short while (if blood tests indicate it), a good quality prenatal covers the basics!

What about just eating a really healthy diet?

While this is a great start, unless you've calculated that you're getting the EXACT amount of every nutrient needed, incorporating a prenatal vitamin will help you cover all of your nutritional basics during this important time and prevent deficiencies and a lot of symptoms in pregnancy

Keep in mind it takes about 3 months to mature eggs & sperm, so both parties taking a good prenatal vitamin (ideally) for at least 3 months before conception, as well as during pregnancy is recommended.

What do we recommend?

Our personal favourite is *Naturobest. They satisfy all the above criteria, are made in Aus, have specific vitamins for prenatal, preconception for men, trimester 1 and trimester 2, 3 & breastfeeding to meet your differing nutritional needs.

Tresos Natal is also quite good if you're taking an iron supplement alongside or have tested your levels and don’t need much additional iron.

*includes our discount code for you!

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We hope this guide assists you in choosing your prenatal vitamins.

For personalised advice and Acupuncture treatments, contact us today to book your session and support your fertility journey.