Things to Know About Supplements

Pregnancy places extra nutritional demands on Mom’s body.  Supplements can be a helpful tool to help meet those demands, but sometimes your body doesn’t get the full benefit because you may be taking them at the wrong time, or with the wrong foods. So here’s some things to know about taking the most common supplements used during pregnancy.

Iron supplements

• Calcium will block absorption
  
• Vitamin C will increase absorption
  
• Prenatal vitamins have both iron and calcium, so the iron in your prenatal vitamin will be blocked by the calcium.
  
• Be mindful of when you have calcium in any form and when you have iron rich foods or take an iron supplement.  Try to separate calcium intake from iron by 2 or more hours.
  
• Your body will absorb the most iron in the morning due to the effects of hepcidin, a hormone that  reduces iron absorption. It peaks at around 1:30 and then drops off during the night.
  
• Ferrous Bisglycinate is absorbed well by the body and is less likely to cause side effects like constipation
  

Magnesium:

• Calcium inhibits absorption of magnesium
  
• Magnesium Glycinate has a high absorption rate and is gentle on the stomach.
  

Vitamin D

• Take Vitamin D in the form of D3
  
• Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, so absorption is higher when taken with food that has some fat.
  

Supplements aren’t regulated, so it’s a buyer beware market when choosing supplements.  Here are some tips to make sure you are getting quality supplements that are worth the money.

• Don’t buy a supplement that doesn’t state the specific form of whatever it is.  For example, if it just says magnesium instead of magnesium glycinate.
  
• Don’t buy anything in the form of oxide such as ferritin oxide. Oxide means it has undergone oxidation and isn’t very usable by your body.
  
• Look for third party certifications such as USP, or NSF international. 
  

Supplements can be incredibly helpful during pregnancy. Be mindful of quality when purchasing, and the things you can do to increase your body’s absorption of them.