Are You Using the Best Prenatal Vitamin for You & Your Baby?

For over 30 years, we have been researching and specializing in Maternal-Fetal Medicine, a sub-specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology. One of the first questions patients may ask their obstetrician is information about prenatal vitamins. For this reason, we have focused primarily in the area of evaluation of the fetus and placenta using various types of ultrasound technologies.

Because nutritional defects can cause unborn babies to have birth defects, abnormal growth, and other problems that may be prevented if only the care of the mother had been optimal, prenatal vitamins and other forms of prenatal supplementation play an important role in the development of the fetus and the health of the mother.

Every mother desires her unborn baby to be healthy, with no birth defects or other problems that would limit the ability for the development of the child’s fullest potential. For over 30 years physicians have recommended prenatal vitamins and minerals as part of routine prenatal care. As a specialist in High-Risk Pregnancy, we have specifically focused on a new prenatal vitamin, Trimedisyn.

What is the Best Prenatal Vitamin for You and Your Child?

After our analysis of this product our conclusion is simple: Trimedisyn is REVOLUTIONARY in its concept and contains more ingredients that have been suggested to improve the health of the mother and unborn child than any other product available in the non-prescription and prescription marketplace.

We believe that Trimedisyn will change how physicians and patients look at prenatal vitamins and their potential benefits.

After reviewing our analysis of Trimedisyn, you most likely will agree with us that this is the most sophisticated prenatal vitamin available for today’s pregnant woman. Click here to read my full analysis of Trimedisyn.

What are the 8 Most Important Prenatal Nutrients?

The ingredients of Trimedisyn have been formulated to maximize the benefit for the pregnant woman and her unborn baby based upon scientific studies reported in the medical literature.

In a recent study published in the British Journal of Nutrition ¹ , the following statement was made: “Multinutrient supplementation – including zinc, iodine, choline and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially n-3 – may have advantages over single-nutrient supplements, for example, iron or folate.”

Scientific evidence has recently shown a number of benefits when the newest ingredients are added to traditional vitamins and minerals. Let’s examine some of the benefits suggested by scientific studies.

Folic Acid. Taking a prenatal vitamin is the only way to make sure you’re getting the amount of folic acid you need each day. All medical authorities recommend a daily dose of 400 micrograms (mcg) starting at least a month before you begin trying to get pregnant and at least 600 mcg a day once you know you’re pregnant. Many mothers assume that they can get all of the folic acid they need from food, but this is untrue. It is actually harder for your body to absorb folic acid from food than it is to absorb the folic acid found in prenatal vitamins. Research has shown that taking a prenatal vitamin with folic acid can reduce the risk of neural tube defects in your baby by up to 70 percent.

Calcium. Unfortunately, many women do not get enough calcium. Studies have shown that increasing the calcium supplementation during pregnancy decreases the risk for high blood pressure (preeclampsia) during pregnancy and maternal death (although rare).² The average woman gets only about 700 mg every day. Aside from not eating enough calcium-rich foods, many women rely on vitamin supplements. Supplements often contain less than one-third of the recommended daily amount of calcium (1,000 mg). For this reason Trimedisyn contains an increased amount of calcium (1000 mg), which is 2.5 to 20 times higher than what is currently available in the prenatal supplements evaluated in this article.

DHA. Pregnant and nursing mothers can give their babies an early developmental advantage by taking a prenatal vitamin that contains the omega-3 fatty acid DHA. Studies show that infants born to mothers with higher blood levels of DHA have advanced attention spans well into their second year of life. During the first six months of life, these same babies had attention spans that were two months ahead developmentally of those babies whose mothers had lower DHA levels. DHA supplementation has been suggested to decrease the incidence of postpartum depression⁴. However, a recent study⁵ reported that few women were getting enough DHA during pregnancy.

Co-Enzyme Q 10. Pre-eclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy that occurs in 16% of pregnancies. When the condition is detected, the only treatment is delivery. Sometimes this results in premature birth and its associated complications for the newborn child. There are several options for detection of patients at risk for this condition as well as treatment. The newest treatment consists of the addition of Co-Enzyme Q 10 as a dietary supplement. In a recent double-blind study patients who received Co-Enzyme Q 10¹² supplementation had a 44% lower incidence of pre-eclampsia than control patients. This is an important study because pre-eclampsia is a serious disease of pregnancy.

Probiotics. A recent study⁶ demonstrated that the inclusion of Probiotics (friendly bacteria in the intestinal tract) reduced the incidence of gestational diabetes from 34% to 13%. This is a dramatic reduction of this serious condition. Another area of investigation⁷ has been the potential benefit of probiotics to decrease preterm delivery⁸ by altering bacteria in the vagina that have been associated with this condition. Currently, there are several ongoing clinical trials investigating this potential benefit.

Choline. Studies have suggested that low levels of this essential nutrient are associated with an increased risk for spinal cord defects. When the levels of Choline⁹ are normal, then it has a protective effect for preventing spinal cord defects.

Ginger Root. Ginger root has been shown to be effective in treating nausea and vomiting¹⁰ of pregnancy. When added to vitamin B6, Ginger Root¹¹ is even more beneficial when treating this condition. New research presented in a recent issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology suggests that ginger root can treat another common condition: nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. The research, conducted at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, found that pregnant women given ginger capsules experienced significant decreases in the occurrence and severity of nausea or vomiting episodes compared to those given a placebo.

Inositol. Inositol protects against the development of neural tube defects. A way to protect against neural tube defects is to take folic acid (folate), but folate prevents only about 70% of these birth defects. Research conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found neural tube defects in some mouse embryos from female mice genetically modified to have low levels of ITPK1, an enzyme involved in the metabolism of inositol. A few studies of human mothers with low inositol levels have shown an increased risk of having children with spina bifida. To reduce the risk of NTDs it is important to take a prenatal vitamin that contains this crucial vitamin, inositol.

Is there a Prenatal Vitamin that Contains all of these Crucial Ingredients?

We have searched the Internet for Non-Prescription and Prescription “Prenatal Vitamins.” The criteria we used for analysis was that each product had to list the ingredients and dosage of each ingredient, whether it was prescription or non-prescription, and third the cost per dose per day.

We found one prenatal vitamin, Trimedisyn that fully met our criteria. The examination of the ingredients of Trimedisyn demonstrate that it is the most complete, scientifically-based prenatal vitamin in the marketplace. If you purchased Co-Enzyme Q 10 by itself, the cost would be $1.00 per day. If you purchased a few of these other ingredients separately the cost would be $2.83/day and the products would still not contain all of the components of Trimedisyn. Nevertheless, the cost for Trimedisyn is $2.63/day.

Would We recommend Trimedisyn?

After reviewing the above material, there is no question that Trimedisyn is the best prenatal supplement on the market. This product is the result of scientific research and has combined all of the important ingredients to enhance the health of the mother and her unborn baby. Citations

1. Shapira, N. (2008). Prenatal nutrition: a critical window of opportunity for mother and child. Women’s Health, 4(6), 639-656.
2. Attalah, AN.(2000). Calcium supplementation during pregnancy for preventing hypertensive disorders and related problems. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, (3), CD001059.
3. Zimmermann, MB. (2009). Iodine deficiency in pregnancy and the effects of maternal iodine supplementation on the offspring: a review. Am J Clin Nutr, 89(2), 668S-72S.
4. Leung, BM. (2009). Perinatal depression: prevalence, risks, and the nutrition link–a review of the literature. J Am Diet Assoc, (9), 1566-75.
5. Grigoriadis, S. (2010). Omega-3 supplements in pregnancy: are we too late to identify the possible benefits? 32(3), 209-16.
6. Yeganegi, M. (2009). Effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 supernatant and fetal sex on lipopolysaccharide-induced cytokine and prostaglandin-regulating enzymes in human placental trophoblast cells: implications for treatment of bacterial vaginosis and prevention of preterm labor. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 200(5), 532.
7. Luoto, R. Impact of maternal probiotic-supplemented dietary counselling on pregnancy outcome and prenatal and postnatal growth: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. (2010). Br J Nutr, 4:1-8.
8. Reid, G. (2003). The potential for probiotics to prevent bacterial vaginosis and preterm labor. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 189(4), 1202-8.
9. Shaw, GM. (2009). Choline and risk of neural tube defects in a folate-fortified population. Epidemiology, 20(5), 714-9.
10. Pongrojpaw, D. (2007). A randomized comparison of ginger and dimenhydrinate in the treatment of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. J Med Assoc Thai, 90(9), 1703-9.
11. Chittumma, P. Comparison of the effectiveness of ginger and vitamin B6 for treatment of nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy: a randomized double-blind controlled trial.
12. Teran, E. (2009). Coenzyme Q10 supplementation during pregnancy reduces the risk of pre-eclampsia. Int J Gynaecol Obstet, 105(1), 43-5.