Do All Prenatal Vitamins Meet Your RDAs?
We Tested The Top 25 Brands And Found These 3 Trends
We analyzed 25 best-selling US prenatal multivitamins to see which ones cover your bases and which ones fall short. While most prenatal multivitamins did well, here are three trends you might not be aware of. We’ll be using 4 popular prenatal vitamins to illustrate our points.
First Steps: If you’re pregnant or planning, talk to your doctor about your diet, and have tests done to detect any nutrient deficiencies. You can then discuss our verified testing data and work together to choose a prenatal multivitamin that’s right for you.
1) Minerals were low across the board:
None of the 25 vitamins we tested met daily recommendations for calcium or magnesium. Babies need calcium for healthy bones. If the mother isn’t consuming enough, calcium will be taken from the mother’s own stores, causing symptoms like brittle teeth, muscle cramps, and nerve pains. Low magnesium can cause similar effects including weakness, irregular heartbeats, and premature uterine contractions.
Half of the products we tested did not meet the daily recommendation for iron. Too little iron can cause anemia, or low blood count.
It’s common for women to already have low mineral levels, even more so for women with diabetes. This means that during your pregnancy, you should be extra diligent about getting your minerals in, whether from food or separate supplements. In case you need help, we’ve tested calcium and magnesium supplements for safety and effectiveness too.
2) Vitamins B3 (niacin) and B9 (folate) can run high:
The safe upper limit for B3 is 35 mg per day, and a few products slightly exceeded this amount. Extreme doses (over 3 g) can lead to bleeding abnormalities, stomach upset, liver damage, or increased blood sugar.
The safe upper limit for folate is 1000 mg per day. Folate is extremely important for your baby’s brain and nervous system, so make sure you’re getting a full 600 mcg each day. Slightly too much is better than too little. With more folate, you just need to pay a little more attention to your B12 intake because folate can hide the early warning signs of B12 deficiency until more serious brain damage has occurred.
Consult your doctor and our rankings to make sure you’re not getting too much of these.
3) Prenatal multivitamins may run low in other vitamins too:
In the table below, you’ll see that individual products will often run low in certain vitamins. This varies between products, but vitamins B1, B2, D, and K seem to be more commonly low.
B1 is essential for your baby’s brain development. B2 deficiency can impair your baby’s growth and increase your risk for preeclampsia, or dangerously high blood pressure. Vitamin D is needed for healthy bone growth. Lastly, K is important for normal blood clotting.
Talk to your doctor
Speak with your doctor regularly about your nutrition needs. If you need help choosing a specific supplement, you can find all of our test results on the Labdoor website.
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