Role of vitamins and minerals: Before pregnancy

Babies require proper nutrition from the very beginning of life. In fact, most essential vitamins are necessary in the first few weeks of your pregnancy. Improving your eating and lifestyle habits while planning a pregnancy is important.

Vitamins and minerals are essential to healthy pregnancy outcomes. As an example folate, or folic acid, plays an important role at different stages of pregnancy and is critical in the development of the baby's brain and spinal cord. Deficiencies in folic acid may result in Neural Tube Defects (NTDs). These malformations of the spinal cord occur in the very first weeks of the pregnancy and this risk can be greatly reduced by taking a multivitamin containing folic acid. Therefore, a multivitamin containing folic acid should be taken when planning a pregnancy, ideally 3 months in anticipation of pregnancy. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada recommend that all women planning a pregnancy take a prenatal multivitamin containing at least a minimum of 400 micrograms (written as 400 μg, or 0.4 mg) of folic acid.

Some women need a multivitamin with a high folic acid content. If you had a previous pregnancy affected by a neural tube defect (NTD) or orofacial clefts (type of birth defect) or have a family history of NTD, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada recommend that you take a multivitamin containing 5.0 mg of folic acid 3 months before and after conception. PregVit folic 5 is the only available prenatal multivitamin that provides all the essential vitamins and minerals as well as the recommended 5.0 mg of folic acid that is needed to diminish the risk of having a child born with a NTD. Women with diabetes, malabsorption disorders (inflammatory bowel diseases), taking a folic acid inhibitor (methotrexate) or taking an epilepsy drug also have higher needs for folic acid. These women have a greater risk of having a child born with neural tube defect. This risk can be decreased significantly by taking 5.0 mg of folic acid daily. If you have one of these conditions, talk to your health professional when planning your pregnancy. It is important that you start taking your folic acid as soon as you stop using contraceptive.

Another important mineral is iron. It prevents the mother from developing anemia (low iron levels in the blood) during pregnancy. It is important that you have appropriate iron stores from the onset of pregnancy to prevent anemia in latter stages of pregnancy which is characterized by symptoms of fatigue.

Calcium also, is very important for both baby and mother. It helps the baby's bones to develop normally and prevents the mother from calcium deficiencies during pregnancy.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) recommends that all women of childbearing age take a multivitamin daily since many women do not meet the requirements for these nutrients by diet alone and about half of the pregnancies are unplanned.