Prenatal vitamins contain higher levels of some nutrients than a standard multivitamin. They also often include folic acid, which decreases the risk of neural tube congenital disabilities such as spina bifida.

Prevents Birth Defects

Prenatal vitamins are explicitly made for pregnant women and usually contain higher doses of certain nutrients than multivitamins. For example, many prenatal vitamins will include more folic acid (also known as folate), which helps prevent severe congenital disabilities that can affect your baby’s brain and spinal cord. They will also typically have more iron, which helps ensure you don’t become deficient in this crucial mineral. Additionally, they might have more vitamin D, which is essential for healthy thyroid function during pregnancy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all women who want to get pregnant or could become pregnant take 400 mcg of folic acid daily to help reduce the risk of neural tube defects like spina bifida and anencephaly. This nutrient is found in food, but the best way to ensure you’re getting enough is to take a prenatal vitamin with folic acid each day, especially if you are trying to conceive or already have.

Your prenatal vitamin should also provide adequate choline levels, crucial for your baby’s neural development. You can also increase your choline intake by eating various foods, including eggs, liver, soybeans, and chicken. Many brands offer safe and effective supplements for pregnant women, such as Nature Made, which provides a prenatal multivitamin with DHA at a budget-friendly price.

Keeps You Healthy

While getting the nutrients you need from food over supplements is always best, that’s only sometimes possible for expecting moms, especially those with limited access to healthy foods or dietary restrictions (like vegetarian mothers). Prenatal vitamins are available as pills, chewable, liquids, and gummies. Some are vegan, and some are made with organic ingredients.

One of the importance of prenatal vitamins is providing the essential nutrients you need during pregnancy and nursing women. They contain folic acid (folate) and iron, two vital nutrients that help prevent congenital disabilities like spina bifida. They also include calcium and vitamin D, which support baby’s teeth and bones and yours. Some prenatal vitamins also have docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid that helps your baby’s brain and eyes develop.

When selecting a prenatal vitamin, check the label for the recommended amount of folic acid and iron. Folic acid is essential because it can reduce your risk of neural tube congenital disabilities, which affect the fetus’s brain and spinal cord. The CDC recommends that people trying to conceive consume at least 400 micrograms of folic acid daily. Iron is another essential nutrient during pregnancy because it helps your body make blood to carry oxygen for you and the baby. You need about 27 milligrams of iron per day during pregnancy.

Helps You Breastfeed

If breastfeeding, you must continue taking prenatal vitamins to supply your baby with the vital nutrients that support its growth and development. A well-balanced diet is usually insufficient to meet your baby’s nutritional needs, so many doctors recommend breastfeeding mothers supplement their diet with prenatal vitamins.

Among the best prenatal vitamins for nursing moms are these, which are made using clean, organic ingredients and follow GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards. One of the essential ingredients in these prenatal is choline, which is needed for a baby’s brain and nervous system development and healthy skin, hair, and eyes. Choline can be hard to get from food alone, and the FDA recommends that pregnant women consume 1,000 milligrams per day from fortified foods or a stand-alone choline supplement.

Another good option is this brand, which uses plant-based ingredients and a stomach-soothing blend of ginger and peppermint. It contains folic acid, iron, choline, vitamin D, calcium, and omega-3s and is gluten-free and dairy-free. The one downside is that they’re more expensive than some other prenatal vitamins. To avoid nausea, try not to take your prenatal vitamins on an empty stomach, and take them at night so you’re asleep when sickness might kick in.

Helps You Thrive

A woman’s diet must contain more vitamins and minerals than usual during pregnancy, especially before and during conception. A deficiency of these nutrients can lead to severe congenital disabilities in the extreme case. Prenatal vitamins are designed to meet the increased nutritional needs of pregnant women. They typically include more folic acid (folate), iron, and calcium than a standard multivitamin.

Folic acid helps prevent the severe congenital disabilities of the brain and spinal cord, called neural tube defects, that can occur early in pregnancy. It is recommended that pregnant women get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily from food or supplements. Iron is included in prenatal vitamins to help prevent iron deficiency or anemia. Pregnant women are at increased risk for anemia as they transition from carrying enough blood for one person to having enough for two. This is why most prenatal have more than the recommended amount of iron, usually about 17 milligrams daily.

Other common nutrients found in prenatal are vitamin C (400 milligrams) to help combat oxidative stress and vitamin D (600 international units) for healthy bone development for mom and baby. Vitamin C is also a great anti-inflammatory, which may help reduce the severity of morning sickness. Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption. Many people have difficulty getting enough of this nutrient from their diets, so most doctors recommend taking a supplement.

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A Balanced Approach to Health

The first thing you need to know is that taking vitamin supplements isn’t a substitute for a healthy lifestyle. A vitamin supplement is a tool that you can use to improve your health, and like any other health tools, you need to ensure that it’s only one aspect of a wider approach to healthy living.

Fortunately, there is a vast number of healthy lifestyle resources that you can utilize in order to build a solid health routine, into which you can then incorporate vitamin supplements in order to make use of their benefits.

Vitamins to Consider

Of course, there are plenty of vitamin supplements that you could and should be making use of. Here’s a quick outline of three of the most important vitamins that you could be taking supplements for.

Vitamin C

A good vitamin C supplement – such as liposomal vitamin c – can do a lot for you, including helping to strengthen your immune system and fight off the effects of illnesses like the flu. Plus, vitamin C is an important antioxidant and plays a vital role in many other bodily functions.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D can be very important for a lot of elements of your health, from your mental health to your ability to absorb and utilize calcium. However, sunlight is one of the most important ways for you to get vitamin D, which means you can run into real issues with Vitamin D deficiency if you live in some of the darker areas in the world.

Vitamin B

When it comes to ensuring your body’s cells are functioning properly, vitamin B is one of the most important tools your body has, which is why taking a supplement for vitamin B can be so beneficial.

Why You Should Bother

You might find yourself looking at all of this and asking yourself, why should I bother with all these vitamins? The answer, of course, is simple. They will help to improve the quality of your life. Taking the right vitamins can obviously help to keep your immune system strong and keep you healthy. However, they can also help to stop you from becoming deficient in any of these vitamins.

The effect that vitamin deficiency can have on you is nothing to scoff at and unfortunately, it’s all too easy to run into vitamin deficiencies unless you are careful about the lifestyle you lead. So, either you go through the process of making sure that you get enough of these vitamins through your diet and lifestyle – something that could literally be impossible for you – or you can draw on the benefits of easy-to-use supplements.

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While diet and exercise have long been touted as the cornerstone of health, proper nutrition also includes supplementing when possible. Nutrient density in foods has lowered over time so that even with the best diets, some women can still be deficient in some areas.

You can learn more about women’s vitamins and find the best natural options for improving nutrition. A nursing mom will need much higher concentrations of nutrients like folic acid for healthy brain development, while an arthritic 80-year-old could need more calcium and vitamin D. Regardless of the stage of life, here are 4 important nutrients to look for when buying women’s vitamins.

Women Need More Iodine

One of the key needs of women is hormonal balance. Women have specific requirements when it comes to hormones. These not only direct their monthly cycles and impact their ability to get pregnant, but they also affect their energy levels, ability to grow hair, and cancer risk. The wrong blend of hormones for too long can put women at risk of countless illnesses that are hard to come back for. Iodine is a nutrient that is directly involved in the thyroid gland and the production of hormones. Look for vitamins that give you back the iodine you need.

How Folate Helps Women

Folate is the natural form of folic acid. Women who take supplements with folate can better absorb the nutrient. Too much folic acid will end up in the bloodstream and is harder for the body to process. Women tend to get iron deficiencies, and this is in part because there isn’t enough folate in their diets. By boosting folate intake, you can also improve iron absorption naturally. Folate also impacts DNA and RNA production in the body and is critical for pregnant and nursing women.

Calcium is Necessary for Bone Health

Good bones are built on calcium. Vitamins for women should have added calcium to ensure they have strong and healthy bones. Women are much more prone to osteoporosis and bone disease than men, so it’s especially important to supplement.

Get More Energy with B Vitamins 

There are many different B vitamins. Each of them has a distinct function but in general, they all work together in a woman’s body and impact their energy levels. While caffeine is a go-to substance for boosting energy, women might need more B vitamins. You can find them naturally in meat, eggs, and dark leafy vegetables.

Find the Best Vitamins for Women

Women need more B vitamins, calcium, folate, and iodine than most of them get in their diets. Even the healthiest eaters sometimes need a boost through supplements.

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