Optimal Support for Conception, Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Do you take a prenatal supplement from the healthfood shop or pharmacy? Purchasing your prenatal supplement from the chemist for example may be a mistake. "Experts" will lead you to believe that you need large amounts of folic acid to prevent spina bifida, when in fact you only need 400mcg a day to prevent neural tube defects1. Besides, you should be eating a diet containing higher levels folate if you are trying to get pregnant, or actually are pregnant ! If not - why are you trying to get all your folic acid from pills? Remember - they are a SUPPLEMENT, not the actual food.
Click here for a list of the highest folate containing foods. Eat them, and take two Prenatal Nutrients tablets from Solgar daily. You will be getting ample folic acid that way. as well as superior forms of the other minerals and vitamins.
With commonly purchased health food shop nutritional supplements, you may well be buying a supplement made from cheap raw materials which are hard to absorb, particularly the minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and iron. Look at the forms of the minerals, and if the container says "calcium" or "magnesium" without stating the form (especially the citrate & carbonate blend, which you will find in Solgar's Prenatal Nutrients) you will be buying a cheap form which is much harder to absorb.
Spina Bifida Prevention - You only need 400mcg of Folic Acid a Day
To prevent spina bifida (neural tube defects) you need to take only 400mcg per day of Folic Acid - no more. Elavit contains 800mcg per tablet - which is unnecessary. Folic Acid (at least 400 mcg per day consumed by females during pregnancy) may help to prevent most (approximately 70% of) potential neural tube defects, especially spina bifida)1. This application of Folic Acid is one of the few applications for vitamins that has unequivocal and total approval from orthodox medicine, but they have the belief that you need folic acid mainly. What the don't tell you is that Vitamin B 12 is just as if not more important than folic acid 2. Nutritional requirements increase dramatically during pregnancy and breastfeeding and it can be difficult to obtain these extra nutrients from diet alone.
Solgar Prenatal Nutrients has been specifically formulated for women before, during and after pregnancy, to support the health of both mother and baby.
Prenatal Nutrients is a superb formulation which contains essential nutrients for healthy foetal development including folic acid, biotin, zinc and iron, as well as calcium and magnesium to support healthy blood pressure and avoid muscle tension during pregnancy.
Solgar Prenatal Nutrients Features
- Preconception care
- Pregnancy & breastfeeding support
- Carefully formulated to support mother & baby
Dosage: Take as a supplement for those wishing to conceive, those who are pregnant and also suitable for lactating women. Two (2) tablets daily, preferably with mealtimes.
Contains: Ingredients Two (2) tablets provide:
Calcium (as carbonate and citrate) 650mg
Magnesium (as oxide and citrate) 225mg
Soy Protein Isolate 80mg
Iron (as Bisglycinate+) 14mg
Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid) 50mg
Natural Source Betacarotene (as prep.) 1.8mg Providing other carotenoids 4.8ug
Biotin (as prep.) 150ug
Vitamin E (15iu, d-alpha tocopheryl succinate) 10mg
+A unique form of chelated iron (iron bisglycinate) formulated for maximum absorption without the gastrointestinal irritation or constipating effects that often accompany iron supplementation. Albion Process Amino Acid Chelate.
Tableted with these natural ingredients:
microcrystalline cellulose, stearic acid, magnesium stearate, silicon dioxide, cellulose gum, hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose, vegetable glycerin.
(1) - Reference from Peer-Reviewed Professional Journals:
Eskes, T. K. Possible basis for primary prevention of birth defects with folic acid. Fetal Diagn Ther. 9(3):149-154, 1994.
Locksmith, G. J., et al. Preventing neural tube defects: the importance periconceptional folic acid supplements. Obstet Gynecol. 321(7):1027-1034, 1998.The objective of this study was to inform the obstetrician-gynecologist of recent scientific evidence regarding the use of supplemental folic acid for prevention of neural tube defects (NTDs). The authors selected English language articles via MEDLINE published from January 1990 through February 1997, using the search terms "folic acid" and "neural tube defect." Additional sources were identified through cross-referencing and through searching selected journals published from March through October 1997. Articles were selected on the basis of their relevance to the relationship between folate intake and NTD incidence, mechanisms of folate responsive NTD formation, and folate provision strategy. The majority of evidence demonstrates a decreased incidence of NTDs with increased folic acid consumption. The most convincing trials were performed in Europe among women who were planning pregnancy by using multivitamin or folic acid supplements. Some studies suggest that the protective effect of folate is explained, in many cases, not through correction of dietary deficiencies, but through correction of metabolic defects. Other evidence implies that it reduces NTDs by causing abortion of affected conceptuses. Supplemental folic acid tablets are the most proven means of improving an individual's folate status, but ensuring compliance with a strategy using vitamin tablets is problematic. Women of reproductive age should be advised to take multivitamin supplements containing 0.4 mg folic acid daily. Women with previously affected offspring who intend to become pregnant should take daily supplementation containing 0.4 mg of folic acid in the periconceptional period to reduce the risk of recurrence.
MRC Vitamin Study Research Group: Results of the Medical Research Council Vitamin Study. Lancet. 338(8760):131-37, 1991.
A randomised double-blind prevention trial with a factorial design was conducted at 33 centres in seven countries to determine whether supplementation with folic acid or a mixture of seven other vitamins (A,D,B1,B2,B6,C and nicotinamide) around the time of conception can prevent neural tube defects (anencephaly, spina bifida, encephalocele). A total of 1817 women at high risk of having a pregnancy with a neural tube defect, because of a previous affected pregnancy, were allocated at random to one of four groups - namely, folic acid, other vitamins, both, or neither. 1195 had a completed pregnancy in which the fetus or infant was known to have or not have a neural tube defect; 27 of these had a known neural tube defect, 6 in the folic acid groups and 21 in the two other groups, a 72% protective effect (relative risk 0.28, 95% confidence interval 0.12-0.71). The other vitamins showed no significant protective effect (relative risk 0.80, 95% Cl 0.32-1.72). There was no demonstrable harm from the folic acid supplementation, though the ability of the study to detect rare or slight adverse effects was limited. Folic acid supplementation starting before pregnancy can now be firmly recommended for all women who have had an affected pregnancy, and public health measures should be taken to ensure that the diet of all women who may bear children contains an adequate amount of folic acid.
(2) The Importance of Vitamin B 12 in Prevention of Neural tube Defects
Groenen, P. M., et al. Marginal maternal vitamin B12 status increases the risk of offspring with spina bifida. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 191(1):11-17, 2004. Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
The purpose of this study was to investigate B vitamins and homocysteine as risk factor for offspring with spina bifida. Blood samples from 45 mothers and their children with spina bifida and from 83 control mothers and their children were obtained to determine the levels of serum and red blood cell folate, serum vitamin B(12), whole blood vitamin B(6), and total plasma homocysteine. In the case mothers, the vitamin B(12) concentration was 21% lower (95% CI, 8%-33%) compared with control mothers. Unlike folate, vitamin B(6,) and homocysteine, a vitamin B(12) concentration of </=185 pmol/L was associated with a 3.5-fold (95% CI, 1.3- 8.9) spina bifida risk. In children, no differences in folate, vitamin B(6), vitamin B(12), and homocysteine concentrations were observed after adjustment for the child's age. A marginal maternal vitamin B(12) status increases the risk of an offspring with spina bifida.
Suarez, L., et al. Maternal serum B(12) levels and risk for neural tube defects in a Texas-Mexico border population. Ann Epidemiol. 13(2):81-88, 2003. Texas Department of Health, Austin, TX, USA
Neural tube defects (NTDs) are common birth defects that can be prevented with folate fortification and supplementation. Studies suggest that other nutrients may also be essential to neural tube closure and have a potential role in risk reduction, with vitamin B(12) mentioned most often. The authors determined the effect of maternal serum B(12) levels, measured postpartum, on the risk of NTDs among a high risk Mexican American population. The case-control study included 157 Mexican American women with NTD-affected pregnancies and 186 Mexican American women with normal pregnancies, who were residents of Texas-Mexico border counties and delivered during 1995 to 2000. Compared with women in the highest vitamin B(12) quintile, women in the lowest quintile showed a strong risk effect (odds ratio (OR) = 3.0, confidence interval (CI): 1.4, 6.3); while those in the 2nd and 3rd quintiles showed moderate risk effects (OR = 1.6, CI = 0.7, 3.6 and OR = 1.7, CI = 0.8, 3.8, respectively). Adjusting for obesity, vitamin supplements, dietary folate, dietary B(12), red blood cell folate, and other covariates did not materially change these estimates. Insufficient levels of serum B(12), which are not normally indicative of a classical vitamin B(12) deficiency nor stem from an inadequate diet, may be an important etiologic factor for NTDs in this population.
Solgar's Vitamin E is a vital and powerful antioxidant to support cardiovascular health, skin protection and healing, and helps support healthy menopause & reproductive system.
Do you take a prenatal supplement from the healthfood shop or pharmacy? Purchasing your prenatal supplement from the chemist for example may be a mistake. "Experts" will lead you to believe that you need large amounts of folic acid to prevent spina bifida, when in fact you only need 400mcg a day to prevent neural tube defects1. Besides, you should be eating a diet containing higher levels folate if you are trying to get pregnant, or actually are pregnant ! If not - why are you trying to get all your folic acid from pills? Remember - they are a SUPPLEMENT, not the actual food.
