Mother Nature's Little Helpers

Mother Nature's Little Helpers: Folic Acid Supplements and Prenatal Vitamins Provide a Nutrient Boost

Picking up a jar of prenatal vitamins at the drugstore is a pregnancy rite of passage for most moms-to-be. That’s because most healthcare practitioners recommend some sort of multivitamin supplement to help ensure that both mom and baby are receiving adequate amounts of iron, folic acid, and other important nutrients. (Even if you lead a super-healthy lifestyle, it’s hard to obtain adequate quantities of these nutrients through diet alone, especially since your body’s demand for these nutrients increases dramatically once you become pregnant.)

Of course, if your pregnancy was planned, you may already be taking a prenatal vitamin by the time the pregnancy test comes back positive. That’s because most healthcare practitioners recommend that women who are planning a pregnancy increase their intake of folic acid (a nutrient that can help to prevent open neural tube defects) during the two to three months prior to planning a pregnancy.

Some healthcare practitioners recommend a folic acid supplement during this time (as opposed to a prenatal vitamin), while others recommend a prenatal vitamin that contains adequate amounts of folic acid as well as a smorgasbord of other nutrients. So that jar of prenatal vitamins may already have a place of honor in your medicine cabinet by the time the pregnancy test comes back positive!

Tip: Don’t take your prenatal vitamin on an empty stomach. You’ll find that your vitamin is more likely to stay down if you take it mid-meal.