Pregnancy Health: On Prenatals

Part 3 of an ongoing series on pregnancy health

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I discussed nutrition and prenatals at length in my first article on pregnancy health, which can be found linked below. If you have not yet read that article, I encourage you to read it before this one.

In that article I discuss that prenatals are a supplement and should be treated as exactly that - supplemental. Eating an adequate amount of necessary nutrients is the key to a successful pregnancy and healthy baby.

This is a little controversial, but - you don’t necessarily need prenatals. Many doctors and midwives and birth workers even refer to prenatals as “expensive pee.” The vast majority of people are taking prenatals full of synthetic ingredients that are barely being used by their body. If you buy the most popular prenatals on the market, those could cost you upwards of $1,000 during your pregnancy. Now some people may say there is no price you can put on your children’s health - which is of course true - however, many of us are on a budget and understand that a lot of “health” products come down to marketing over necessity.

In my case, my healthiest baby of three - best eater and easiest sleeper so far - had the least in the way of prenatals, and the most in the way of focused nutrition before and during pregnancy.

However, some people feel more comfortable taking a prenatal to fill in any nutritional gaps they may have day-to-day. Keep in mind that, due to your particular needs, there may be other nutrients that you need to supplement more specifically, versus simply relying on a general multi-mineral/vitamin prenatal.

Below is a discussion of multiple prenatals. The first two are food based prenatals that I have used and benefitted from periodically in my third pregnancy - though I did not rely on these. The other 2 are recommendations from Lily Nichols - a Registered Dietician Nutritionist who has written extensively on how to optimally support nutritional needs in pregnancy.

Nunona

Note: I have taken this prenatal supplement and I like it.

Nunona is a whole food prenatal and postnatal vitamin in the form of a nut butter, oat, and date bite with a specially formulated nutrient blend mixed in. One of the best things about it is that it is actually food, rather than a synthetic supplement, which tends to be easier to eat and process. This option is great for people who find that they struggle to take or tolerate pills in pregnancy - particularly because most prenatals have you taking as many as 8 pills a day, which can be a struggle, if not impossible.

Pros: The biggest pro is that Nunona is real food and simply tastes like a nut butter, oat, and date ball. This is especially useful for people who find they are too nauseated in pregnancy to take pills. Nunona bites are designed to support moms prenatally as well as post-natally, and contain sunflower lecithin to help with breastmilk production.

Cons: A potential con is that it is vegan, which means many of the nutrient forms have to be converted to be usable - but as it’s food based, these nutrients tend to be much easier to absorb and utilize than synthetically derived vitamins and minerals.

My experience: I did not take a prenatal vitamin or many supplements for most of my third pregnancy, focusing more on getting the RDAs of vitamins and minerals for a pregnant woman from food. I found myself more tired in my second trimester than usual, so I tried a few different prenatals to see if they made a difference - and the only one that did was Nunona. I ate Nunona bites off and on (when I remembered and felt like I was getting tired) throughout my second and third trimester, and am still eating them postpartum to support my nutrient needs while breastfeeding.

Buy Nunona here and use my code GLITTER to save 30% on your first order.

Wild Family Supplements: Wild Life

Note: I have taken this prenatal and I like it.

Wild Family Supplements is a small batch, whole food supplement company that blends organ meats and mushrooms to make the ultimate multivitamin.

Many people will create their own “prenatal supplement stack” out of liver, oyster, and other organs and supplements tailored to their own specific needs - the nice thing about the Wild Life supplement is that it combines a few of these common whole food ingredients, and nothing more. Equal parts beef liver, oyster meat, and marine collagen, it contains several vitamins and minerals (including Vitamins A, B12, copper, and zinc) that are critical for prenatal development.

Pros: This is a food based supplement comprised entirely of animal sources (liver, oysters, and marine collagen), which are the most bioavailable and usable sources of vitamins and minerals in the body.

Cons: Some people may struggle with taking organ meat supplements and find the smell, aftertaste, or burping off-putting. However, I’ve taken a lot of organ supplements and this is one of the easiest to take - while it does have an organ meat smell in the bottle (as all organ supplements do), in my experience, it fortunately does not have a gross aftertaste when you take it or cause burping or any other unpleasantness.

My experience: These are not yet available for purchase, but I received a sample a few weeks before I gave birth. I have tried multiple types of organ supplements and this is one of the most palatable I’ve ever had, and I personally found that these gave me more energy and clarity.

Seeking Health: Optimal Prenatal, Prenatal Essentials, and Chewable

I have not taken this prenatal but it is one of Lily Nichols’ top recommendations, and this company and these prenatal options were designed by a doctor I trust and whose work I have used to better understand my own health.

Seeking Health is an excellent and trusted supplement company founded by Dr. Ben Lynch, who wrote Dirty Genes - a revolutionary guide to nutritional genetics. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand their own genes and how they impact their health and nutritional choices.

Seeking Health has 5 prenatal supplement options (and one fertility preconception supplement for men), designed especially for your own epigenetic needs and preferences:

• Optimal Prenatal - full-dose prenatal exceeding nutrient levels of most prenatals on the market (8 pills)

• Prenatal Essentials - a fewer capsule option (2 pills) that still meets most prenatal nutrient needs

• Prenatal Chewable - a chewable option for those struggling to swallow pills

• Optimal Prenatal MF - a methyl-free option of the optimal prenatal

• Prenatal Essentials MF - a methyl-free option of the prenatal essentials

Pros: These supplements are for anyone looking for a prenatal with evidence based dosing, which exceeds the nutrient levels of many other prenatals on the market, and uses metabolically active forms of vitamins and minerals designed with epigenetics in mind to work effectively in the body. There are also methyl-free versions available for those who find they have adverse reactions to methylated B-vitamins. They also test each batch for heavy metals.

Cons: Cons of both Seeking Health’s and FullWell’s Prenatals are listed in the next section as they are duplicative.

FullWell: Women’s Prenatal Multivitamin

I have not taken this prenatal but it is one of Lily Nichols’ top recommendations.

Pros: This prenatal is for those looking for a supplement with evidence based dosing, which exceeds the nutrient levels of many other prenatals on the market, and predominantly uses bioactive forms of vitamins and minerals. It is a great option for those who want to cover all their bases. They also test each batch for heavy metals.

Cons: My first con for both FullWell’s prenatal and Seeking Health’s Optimal Prenatal is that the recommended dosage is 8 pills a day. Fortunately, Seeking Health has an Essentials option that is just 2 pills a day, as well as a chewable option.

The rest of my cons here are based on my personal experience and my needs, so this may not necessarily apply to you - but what follows is multiple reasons why I personally would not take FullWell’s prenatal or Seeking Health’s prenatals. However, just because it’s not right for me doesn’t mean it’s not right for you - everyone has different needs and preferences.

• I personally avoid Vitamin D supplementation, particularly cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) and it’s one topic on which I have a different opinion from many doctors, nutritionists, and practitioners - in part because I have had a documented bad reaction to cholecalciferol supplementation. Cholecalciferol is used as rat poison, and it works as a rodenticide by causing hypercalcemia (high levels of calcium in the blood) which can damage kidneys, soft tissues (like arteries), and bones. Ashley Everly, a toxicologist and medical researcher, has written extensively about the issues with Vitamin D here. In the last few years, doctors and midwives have reported an increase in placental issues, particularly placentas that are highly calcified, which has largely been attributed to the vascular effects of Covid and the Covid vaccine. However, I can’t help but wonder if that phenomena is being contributed to due to the excessive Vitamin D supplementation recommendations which have occurred along the same timeline and are pushed by both mainstream doctors and naturopaths. I recently polled my Instagram followers in my stories (a very unscientific study, to be sure) - of the 117 respondents who indicated that they took Vitamin D3 during their pregnancy, 26% indicated that they had issues with their placenta. Of the 73 respondents who said they had issues with their placenta, 42% were taking Vitamin D3 during pregnancy. Both of these numbers are much higher than the average number of women who experience placental issues, which is 10-15%.

• Both FullWell’s prenatal and Seeking Health’s Optimal Prenatal have a zinc:copper ratio of 26:1, when that ratio should be about 10:1, which means it has the potential to deplete copper - which is necessary for connective tissue development. This is a primary concern to me because both my husband and I have a genetic connective tissue disorder, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which has been linked to low levels of copper. Seeking Health’s Prenatal Essentials has a zinc:copper ratio of 17:1 and the Chewable option has a ratio of 14:1, both of which are a bit better.

• In both prenatals, the form of Vitamin A is split between Retinyl Palmitate and Beta-Carotene. Beta-Carotene needs to be converted into the bioactive form of Vitamin A in order to be used by the body, and up to 60% of the population (including me) has a genetic mutation which does not allow them to convert beta-carotene to that bioactive form of Vitamin A. So I personally would not rely on this supplement to provide me with enough Vitamin A.

• I also tend to avoid the Ascorbic Acid form of Vitamin C as it can cause kidney stones, which has happened to me in the past when supplementing Ascorbic Acid.

A Note on Needed

You’ll notice that the most popular prenatal supplement on Instagram - Needed - is not on my list. This is partly because many of the cons I outlined with regard to FullWell also apply to Needed. It is also because Needed is very similar in makeup to FullWell yet is 25% more expensive, and also pays big influencers $75 for each customer they refer to buy Needed’s prenatal (not everyone gets this much per referral, the $75 rate is only for those influencers who refer large volumes of people - making it quite a lucrative offer). This personally feels to me like the customer is overpaying for marketing, for a supplement that has a less costly, comparable equivalent on the market.

Conclusion

Your comfort level in choosing (or not choosing) a prenatal is a very personal decision.

We live in a day and age where people online - and particularly influencers - openly share about all the supplements they are taking. I can’t help but notice the outcomes tied to these decisions, and the fact that many people taking lots of supplements appear more likely to have issues during birth or with their babies.

Is that because people with innate health challenges are drawn to various supplements to manage health issues, or are these health issues actually caused by all the various supplements? It’s hard to know for sure, and certainly outcomes depend on a case by case basis.

Did your preferred prenatal make the list? Let me know your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

Explore related articles in our Pregnancy Health series at the links below:

Pregnancy Health: On Nutrition, Prenatals, and Learning Along the Way

Pregnancy Health: On Supporting Fertility

Pregnancy Health: On Morning Sickness and Hyperemesis Gravidarum