t is best to get these nutrients in their food forms. Of course, sometimes – despite your best efforts – you can’t get in all of your necessary nutrients. That’s why we recommend a daily prenatal vitamin as a safety net to complement your dietary efforts.
Nutrients to Emphasize:
B Vitamins
DHA
Zinc
Calcium
Magnesium
Vitamin D
Iron
Vitamin C
Vitamin K
Water
B Vitamins
B vitamins (emphasizing folic acid, B12, choline, and biotin) work together (and require each other to work optimally) to help support optimal cell growth during pregnancy.
Most of them are found in greatest concentration in whole grains, and legumes. Processing can reduce them significantly, and while law requires that most grain products be fortified with folic acid, it is still likely that you would be getting a lesser amount of the other B vitamins when consuming processed grains.
- B12 is found in animal meat and products, so vegetarians may benefit from supplementing this nutrient.
- The best source of choline is egg yolk or lecithin. I often have women add lecithin to their smoothies if they do not want to eat egg yolks. Ironically, processed foods are a great source of lecithin since it is often used as a binder. Despite this fact, you should still avoid processed foods since the negatives of the other ingredients would likely outweigh the positives of the lecithin.
DHA
This is an omega-3 fatty acid that is important for your baby’s cognitive development. Good sources include fish, and the egg yolk from DHA-fortified eggs. Due to concerns about mercury and other toxins in fish, my recommendation would be to avoid fish and take a DHA supplement. (Many prenatal vitamins contain this nutrient today.)
Zinc
Nuts, seeds, beans, and dairy are all sources of this valuable nutrient. Processed food diets tend to be lower in zinc, as do those diets that include too much iron or calcium, since these nutrients can compete with zinc for absorption.
