I’ve made a quick grocery list of supplements that I take, the reading list that in part made me decide to take them, and distilled the information down to a few quick bullet points.
Much of the research is, perhaps, more relevant to women who are, or may be pregnant or nursing in years to come. Enjoy!
1. Folic acid
- Folic acid supplementation early in conception and during pregnancy could prevent up to 70% of cases of spina bifida, a relatively common birth defect involving improper closer of the embryonic neural tubes. 1
- Folic acid helps prevent damaging effects from in utero exposure to bisphenol A, which has become notorious for it’s nearly ubiquitous presence in the environment — with one recent study even finding that 9 out of 10 babies tested had bisphenol A already present in their systems. 2,3
- Pregnant women exposed to hairspray have a two-to-three fold risk of having a son with a genital defect. Folic acid supplementation during the first three weeks of pregnancy decreases this risk by 36%.16
- Folic acid supplementation during pregnancy decreases the incidence of congenital heart defects.4
- Folate supplements for at least one year before conception was associated with a 70% reduction in spontaneous premature birth between 20 and 28 weeks.5
- Mothers supplementing with folic acid during pregnancy, significantly reduced the mortality risk of their children through age 7.6
2. Omega-3
- High consumption of fish (omega-3) during pregnancy results in children having better neurological function, including higher IQ and better hand-eye coordination. 7
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Omega-3 taken during the last months of pregnancy boosts an infant’s sensory, cognitive, and motor development.8
- Mothers who eat foods rich in omega-3 during pregnancy and while nursing, may dramatically reduce risk of daughters‘ developing breast cancer later in life.9
- Children whose mothers with asthma ate oil fish during pregnancy, were 71% less likely to develop asthma on average;the more oily fish a woman ate, the less likely her child was to develop asthma.10
3. Vitamin D – Careful: Narrow threshold. Toxic at high-doses.
- Vitamin D deficiency early in pregnancy is associated with a five-fold increased risk of preeclampsia, a condition indicated by high-blood-pressure and excessive levels of protein in the urine.11
- Vitamin D deficiency has been found to increase the likelihood of bacterial vaginosis, which is a common cause of preterm delivery.12
- Mothers that had a high intake of vitamin D during pregnancy were 45% less likely to have a daughter with multiple sclerosis.13
4. Zinc – Careful: Narrow threshold. Toxic at high-doses.
- Fetal zinc deficiency may explain some of the birth defects and neurodevelopmental abnormalities associated with alcohol exposure. New rodent findings are the first to show that dietary zinc supplements throughout pregnancy can reduce some alcohol-related birth defects.14
5. Multivitamin
- Women who take multivitamins during pregnancy can cut their children’s risk of the tumor by 30 percent to 40 percent.15
Okay, suggesting a multivitamin isn’t exactly rocket science, but in some cases (though perhaps not all) it probably at least covers a lot of the needs of the other vitamins.
This shouldn’t have to be said but: this isn’t medical advice. Some of these vitamins have a toxic limit. Consult the Linus Pauling Institute website for recommended daily allowance information, and certainly consult your physician before making any big changes.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
First 3 points are excellent advice.
Zinc: careful with that. The interval between the minimum recommended dose and the toxic level is pretty narrow. It's easy to get zinc poisoning if you don't know what you do. If you do take zinc, make sure you only supplement with the minimum recommended daily dose, and make sure you don't get zinc from more than one supplement each day (like when you take several different multivitamins).
Multivitamins: If you don't live in a poor country, and if your diet is not exclusively Coke and Cheetos, then regular multivitamins (those that only give you the minimum daily dose) don't do much for you. See if you can find MVs that provide a lot more than the minimum recommended dose – they are usually vitamin “packs”, several different pills in a small plastic pouch and you're supposed to take all of those pills at once. Of course, careful with zinc and whatnot; the higher dose MVs I've seen so far make an exception for zinc and only give you a pretty low level, which is safe.
I don't think Zinc is that much of a problem.
Acute toxicity occurs at 4g dosage, and chronic toxicity has been measured at the range of 150-450mg/day.
A typical zinc supplement (I am using ZMA as a standard here), contains 30mg per serving. (200% DV for adult men)
Also, pregnant women have a higher zinc need, as due to the fact that the baby needs zinc too.
Source here, I believe NIH is reputable enough.
http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/FactShe…
Great info. for women! Tweeting this
This is really only for women trying to conceive, pregnant, or recent mothers. So don't know why “all women” would need to know about them. 45% of women 15-44 are childless. I'm sure all these vitamins do good things for women's overall health, you simply chose to focus on the benefits to their fetuses/children, not women themselves. Good info, though.
I think the reason “all women” is emphsized is for two reasons: number one is that many of these supplements have really well-established research on being healthy for other reasons (omega-3 being the easiest to pin down on being generally awesome).
FTA:”Folate supplements for at least one year before conception was associated with a 70% reduction in spontaneous premature birth between 20 and 28 weeks.5″
I feel like, what this statement implies is that if a woman were to *accidentally* become pregnant and had presently been folic acid deficient for an extended period of time they might put themselves at undue risk of complication. I do, of course, emphasize deficient.
Greaat advice.
Also general health can be improved by avoiding chemicals in the products we use for cleaning and personal hygiene by chosing eco friendly products.
Even that seemingly gentle soft cotton wool we use on babies is full of pesticides and bleaches that are then tranferred to our skin and absorbed into our systems.
Hi there, great site was perhaps thinking we could joint venture
Greaat advice.
Also general health can be improved by avoiding chemicals in the products we use for cleaning and personal hygiene by chosing eco friendly products.
Even that seemingly gentle soft cotton wool we use on babies is full of pesticides and bleaches that are then tranferred to our skin and absorbed into our systems.
Hi there, great site was perhaps thinking we could joint venture