When I asked my OB what I should do about prenatal vitamins—those revered nutritional supplements—he shocked me by reaching under his desk and pulling out the garbage can.
“Put them in here,” he said.
My doctor’s advice made my jaw drop.
On one hand, that was a huge relief, as the hyperemesis gravidarum (extreme morning sickness) that characterized all my pregnancies prevented me from swallowing almost any pill.
But I thought you were a bad mother if you didn’t take prenatal vitamins. In fact, before I became so ill, I purchased a jug of prenatal vitamins that included every possible herb that might benefit my brand new embryo. Because you’re better safe than sorry, right? Shouldn’t everyone take a multivitamin?
According to my doctor, that’s not right. And he’s not alone. In February, a study published in Archives of Internal Medicine showed that daily multivitamin use doesn’t ward off cancer or heart disease, even though a nutrient-rich diet does.
Charles Lockwood, MD, the chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Yale–New Haven Hospital, confirmed my doctor’s advice: “If you eat a balanced diet and are not iron deficient, it is not clear that prenatal vitamins result in any health benefits during pregnancy.”
My doctor then referred me to Williams Obstetrics, the essential source of information for ob-gyns. In the 17th edition, I discovered this passage:
“The practice of supplying vitamin supplements prenatally is a deeply ingrained habit of many obstetricians, even though scientific evidence to show that the usual vitamin supplements are of benefit to either the mother or her fetus is quite meager.”
Why doesn’t anyone know this? I read on to discover the Committee on Maternal Nutrition of the National Research Council pointed out that pregnancy supplements are of doubtful value, “except for iron and possibly folic acid.”
So we’re not completely off the hook—we still benefit from popping a few pills. But which pills, and how much? That seems to be quite a topic of debate. What does seem certain is that we’re better off taking our vitamins more discriminatingly, if we take them at all.
For example, if we take large doses of vitamin C, we could give our unborn babies scurvy, according to William Obstetrics. And supplementing iodine beyond our usual salt intake can “induce a sizeable goiter in the fetus.” Yikes!
I learned that the pills I should take while pregnant include the iron and folic acid mentioned in Williams Obstetrics, as well as the new darling of nutritional experts, vitamin D.
Next page: The trifecta of vitamins
Comments (5)
Hey if you do you need real vitamins no synthetic ones that are commonly sold as vitamins. http://www.stargatenutritionvitamin.com
16 times more effective too!
I never took a prenatal vitamin throughout my entire pregnancy. I thought it was a load of crap (given my mom did just fine through all her pregnancies just eating right). My OB did not agree with me. The one thing I did do, was take a flintstones vitamin almost everyday. It includes most items you will see in a prenatal vitamin, minus the cost and the nausua/difficulty some people have in taking them. Sometimes, I think prenatals are a scam by pharmaceutical companies trying to make money off of us scared pregnant women that will do anything for a healthy baby!
I find your article and it’s title misleading. There really is no evidence that prenatal vitamins are harmful at all, but there is evidence that they might be beneficial.
With a diet that is well balanced and a lifestyle that includes adequate exercise (including during pregnancy), the fact that the calcium and magnesium might affect iron absorption shouldn’t matter.
However, for women who lack a balance diet, prenatal vitamins can be quite helpful.
And Meg, just because the lack of prenatal vitamins didn’t have any effect for you doesn’t mean that they don’t have any value.
Hi Meg — how did I land this gig? Sheer luck! While I was trying to conceive in summer ‘08, I was approached by an editor about writing about my journey. My only caution is WATCH OUT if you start blogging about pregnancy, because somehow *it makes you pregnant*… worked for me! (And Julia, and Julie…)
Hi Jen — thank you for reading the article, and for your feedback.
In my research, I discovered several things that can happen to babies who are exposed to too-high levels of minerals while in utero, but it wasn’t worth including that potentially frightening information (like goiters…! on a newborn!?)
And the combination of calcium and iron simply negates the iron, which may be the only nutrient you DO need to supplement during pregnancy (as I did). So those supplements are particularly dangerous in you struggle with anemia.