Prenatal Multivitamins Don't Help Much, Study Says

For pregnant women, taking prenatal vitamins may be a waste of money, a new review of previous research suggests. Instead of taking multivitamin and mineral supplements, pregnant women should focus on improving the overall quality of their diets, and should take just two vitamins:folic acid and vitamin D, according to the review, conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom. “We found no evidence to recommend that all pregnant women should take prenatal multinutrient supplements beyond the nationally advised folic acid and vitamin D supplements, generic versions of which can be purchased relatively inexpensively,” the authors wrote in the report, published today (July 11) in the journal Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin. Although multivitamin supplements are frequently marketed to pregnant women as a means of giving their babies the best possible start in life, such marketing claims do not actually translate into better health for mothers or babies, the researchers said. However, eating healthy foods before and during pregnancy is essential for the health of mothers and their unborn children, because vitamindeficiencies have been linked to various complications of pregnancy and birth, the researchers said. Those complications include a pregnancy-induced, high blood pressure condition called preeclampsia, restricted fetal growth, skeletal deformities, low birth weight and birth defects of the brain, spine or spinal cord, the researchers said. Currently, the American...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news