Prenatals/mutivitamins?? and Hair N Nails Vitamin.

Updated on February 18, 2014
M.M. asks from Chicago, IL
4 answers

I am thinking of having a second baby in the next year or so. With my first , it was a surprise and I hadn't started on any prenatals. I was asked to start once I found out I was pregnant, but I could not handle it as I already had bad nausea. So my doc put M. on calcium and omega 3 supplements and told M. multivitamins are not really needed as long as we are eating a healthy diet.

But once my baby was born , I heard many times that taking a multivitamin always is good. But I never took any , but now I am thinking maybe I should.

So at this point do I start on a regular multivitamin or prenatals??? I am wondering if prenatals can be taken all the time too and not just before/during pregnancy. Also any suggestions on particular brand , would be helpful. I was looking for one at Whole foods and they had too many choices. Also I found something for just hair n nails. My hair is very thin and brittle , so I am thinking of taking the hair n nail vitamin too. Do you know if it's ok to take both vitamins together??

Any advise would be great! Thanks!!

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D.B.

answers from Boston on

You're right to be confused by the endless aisles of vitamins in any store, whether it's a supermarket or a health food store. These are designed to maximize profits for the companies rather than to meet your nutritional needs!

Your doctor's advice about a "healthy diet" was tossed out by the American Medical Association in 2002, so I don't know why he's still suggesting that. Our foods are so sadly deficient in nutrients due to processing but just growing techniques - so our natural fruits and veggies are up to 40% else nutritious than they were 30-50 years ago.

The problem with most multivitamins is that they are in pill form, which means an absorption level of 15-30% (according to the Physicians Desk Reference, which every doctor has). So they have to be in a highly absorbable form (so said the AMA study), and they have to be at optimum levels (not just the minimum requirements). They also have to be synergistic, which means that every vitamin, mineral, herb, trace element and so on needs to have ALL its essential partners in the same formula! Asking you, the consumer to mix and match vitamins is pointless - they don't work in isolation anyway, and most of us don't have the PhD necessary to do the mixing! As a society, we are choking down handfuls of pills which are not in a usable form and which don't have all the important components. And that's if we know where they are made - which we don't, 95% of the time.

Don't go for something that is just for prenatal, or just for hair/nails. That's not how the body works. Every cell needs exactly the same nutrients for healthy functioning - again, that was determined about 40 years ago. And with all the new work in nutritional epigenetics, which helps cells to function properly by repairing/protecting the covering on the genome (the genetic material is affected by the covering), this is more and more supported by clinical studies.

In my work, we recommend exactly the same thing for pregnant/nursing women as for men and for children. If someone has a particular issue in addition (e.g. joint function, muscle issues, diabetes, cholesterol), the supplements can be enhanced but only by using another comprehensive formula designed to work with the basic nutrition. It's still a whole-body and whole-cell approach.

There are a few tried and true (and proven) ways to evaluate a nutritional company. You should be looking for a very small family of supplements which is comprehensive, not some company that is making a fortune selling you everything possible in a zillion different strengths. It should not have warning labels on it (because it shouldn't be possible to overdose on it - which happens when you take individual vitamins separately), ideally it is patented (proving safety and effectiveness), and it should be backed up by clinical studies done independently by outside labs. It should have the FDA Good Manufacturing Practices designation (not FDA approval, which is for drugs and not for food), and it should be made in the US rather than outsourced. It should not have GMOs. You should have a direct connection with the company, access to a consultant, and access as needed to the research/clinical arm. That narrows the field considerably!

Let M. know if you want more help.

2 moms found this helpful
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B.H.

answers from Los Angeles on

I hear you! I am so excited that a dear friend introduced M. to a line of vitamins that don't upset my tummy. I am going to send you a PM because sometimes when I post a link someone reports it and it gets taken down and I really want you to have this info.

Let M. know what you think!

B.

K.A.

answers from San Diego on

I started taking prenatals when I got pregnant with my first child. It was short lived. They were causing too man side effects. At first I thought it was because I was just pregnant but by process of elimination discovered it was the prenatal vitamins. Once I stopped taking them my health improved drastically. When I'd forget to take them for a few days I'd start to feel better. I tried a few brands and such, it didn't matter.
I went on to have 2 more children and didn't take a single vitamin at all and was a thousand times better. My midwife knew I wasn't taking any and was fine after I told her about my experiences with my first pregnancy.
Picking and choosing to take more of this vitamin over this other one and taking such high levels of some of them can throw off all your other vitamin levels and really isn't good for your overall health.

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