Before pregnancy:
- Prenatal
- Brand: Metagenics Fem Prenatal
- Dosage: 6 pills/day
- Magnesium (as magnesium citrate and magnesium aspartate) – 250 mg
- Vit. D (as cholecalciferol) – 10 mg / 400 IU
- Folate (as calcium L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate) – 1700 mcg DFE
- Vit. B12 (as methylcobalamin) – 120 mcg
- Biotin – 300 mcg
- Myo-Inositol – 50 mg
- DHA
- Brand: Nordic Naturals
- Dosage: 735 mg EPA/ 525 mg DHA/ Other Omega-3s 240mg
- Note: The official omega-3 of the American Pregnancy Association is Nordic Naturals’ Prenatal DHA, which provides 480 mg DHA and 205 mg of EPA per serving
During pregnancy:
Same as pre-pregnancy plus:
- Vitamin D3
- Brand: vitafusion
- Form: Cholecalciferaol
- Dosage: 75 mcg / 3000 IU (2 gummies) daily
- Studies and notable findings:
- New insights into the vitamin D requirements during pregnancy (Nature, 2017) It appears crucial to start vitamin D treatment before placentation (formation of the placenta, occurs ~1 week after fertilization)
- Vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy will decrease asthma or recurrent wheezing rates in children (results reproduced in multiple studies)
- Strong data suggests a relationship between intrauterine vitamin D deficiency and autism, ADD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and impulse behavior all through the control of serotonin synthesis in the neonatal brain
- A 4,000 IUD (100 mcg) vitamin D3 supplement (10x what was included in my prenatal!) is beneficial to both mother and child
- Takeaways:
- Get your vitamin D levels checked before getting pregnant (over 40% of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient, with African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities significantly overrepresented)
- Check your prenatal and supplement with vitamin D so you’re getting at least a 4,000 IUD daily dose
- Magnesium
- Brand: Natural Vitality CALM
- Form: Magnesium citrate
- Dosage: 165 mg (2 gummies) daily
- Studies and notable findings:
- In a randomized clinical trial, women who received 300 mg/day magnesium supplement had decreased preeclampsia (P = 0.018), lower preterm birth (P = 0.044) as well as lower rate of low birth weight (P = 0.002) (Adv Biomed Res. 2017)
- Choline (started at week 30, but suggest starting by 2nd trimester)
- Brand: Double Wood Supplements
- Form: Phosphatidyl-Choline
- Dosage: 840 mg/day
- Studies and notable findings:
- Approximately 90–95% of pregnant women are consuming less than the adequate intake, despite choline’s importance in maternal health (Public Health Nutrition, 2014)
- Choline is associated with improved cognition and reduced birth defects (cleft palate, neural tube defects) in the fetus, and improved placental and liver function in women (Int J Womens Health, 2013)
- Dietary supplementation in the second and third trimesters with phosphatidyl-choline is associated with improvement in inhibitory neuronal functions whose deficit is associated with schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder (Shanghai Arch Psychiatry, 2015)
- Inositol (started at week 30, but suggest starting pre-pregnancy)
- Brand: Emeritt
- Form: Myo-inositol, D-Chiro-Inositol
- Dosage: 2000 mg (2 g) myo-inositol, 50 mg D-chiro-inositol
- Studies and notable findings:
- In clinical trials in which inositol dosages ranged from 4 to 60 g/day and the exposure time ranged from 1 to 12 months, the only adverse events reported were mild gastrointestinal symptoms, but only at doses greater of 12 g/day (Diabetes Metab Res Rev, 2019)
- In women with no previous GDM, <30 BMI, with elevated fasting plasma glucose during 1st trimester, the group treated with 250 mg/day of D-chiro-inositol, 1.75 g/day D-myo-inositol, 12.5 mg/day zinc, 10 mg/day methylsulfonylmethane and 400 mg/day 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid were found to have significantly lower rates of gestational diabetes at 24 weeks, and their newborns were found to have significantly lower rates of macrosomia (>4kg birth weight) vs. the control group who were treated with only 400 mg/day of folic acid (Biomed Rep, 2017)
- Takeaways:
- Inositol supplementation during pregnancy seems to be safe in animal and clinical trials with few adverse effects under 12 g per day
- In women with no previous diagnosis of GDM, <30 BMI with elevated fasting blood glucose during the 1st trimester, supplement with D-chiro-inositol and D-myo-inositol to lower risk of GDM and macrosomia in newborns
I do also take a probiotic, recommended by my wonderful prenatal chiropractor Dr. Jenny Stofer:
I started this at the beginning of 2nd trimester and will leave the probiotics research for another post!
I will update on post-partum supplements in a few months, but plan to stick to the pregnancy routine at least while breastfeeding.