Physicians recommend pregnant women take prenatal vitamins to ensure that both the fetus and the mother receive adequate nutrition during the pregnancy to maintain optimal health, according to Cleveland Clinic. While a well-balanced diet is always the best source of vitamins and minerals, prenatal vitamins can make up for any nutritional deficiencies in the mother's diet.
Significance
According to the March of Dimes, while women need to absorb more calcium during pregnancy to meet both their own and the fetus' nutritional needs, because hormonal changes during pregnancy allow women to absorb a higher percentage of the calcium they consume, women don't actually need to increase their dietary calcium intake during pregnancy as long as they are already meeting the daily recommended dietary allowance, or RDA, for calcium of 1,000 mg per day. Unfortunately, the average woman in the United States consumes only 700 mg of calcium per day, making prenatal vitamins with calcium necessary for both maternal and fetal health. If a woman doesn't consume enough calcium during pregnancy to support fetal growth, her body will leach calcium from her bones to nourish the fetus.
Time Frame
MayoClinic.com recommends women begin taking prenatal vitamins three months before they plan to conceive, because neural tube defects caused by vitamin deficiencies can occur in the first month of pregnancy. Women should take prenatal vitamins throughout their pregnancy. Women who plan on breastfeeding should ask their physicians whether they should continue to take prenatal vitamins while they are lactating.
Features
Different prenatal vitamins contain different amounts of vitamins and minerals. The Cleveland Clinic recommends that women look for prenatal vitamins that contain about 4,000 to 5,000 international units, or IU, of vitamin A, 800 to 1,000 mcg of folic acid, 400 IU of vitamin D, 200 to 300 mg of calcium, 70 mg of vitamin C, 1.5 mg of thiamin, 1.6 mg of riboflavin, 2.6 mg of vitamin B6, 17 mg of niacin, 2.2 to 12 mcg of vitamin B12, 10 mg of vitamin E, 15 mg of zinc and 30 mg of iron.
Function
Calcium plays vital roles in bone formation, growth and remodeling, muscle contraction, blood vessel contraction and relaxation, hormone and enzyme secretion and neurotransmission. (See References 4)
Considerations
Prenatal vitamins can cause nausea and constipation. MayoClinic.com recommends taking prenatal vitamins at night with food if you're are experiencing nausea. Sucking on a mint or hard candy or chewing gum after taking the vitamin or switching to a chewable prenatal vitamin may also help relieve nausea. If you experience constipation, increasing fluids and fiber intake, exercising and using a stool softener may offer relief.
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