Vitamin E - confusion!

[coffeeaddict]

Hi. This is my first thread so forgive me if I do it wrong.

I'm 16 weeks pregnant and confused about vitamin E. On the one hand it is in my Pregnacare multivitamin and people talk about omega oils etc being a good idea. On the other hand, new research seems to say it can cause heart defects (see link below).

What are we supposed to do? I have held off taking any omega oils just in case. But what about all their benefits?? Has anyone else heard anything about this or been given any advice?

www.news-medical.net/news/2009/04/13/48245.aspx

[crumpette]

I always take omega 3s (when I remember!) I take the ones called 'mumomega' which I get from boots

I hadn't heard of a problem with vitamin E. Tbh it sounds like the study in your link was very small and uncontrolled. Also it says 'vitamin E and retinol' without stating if these are combined for the risk factor to increase

I would say you should take omega3s in pregnancy but you really must buy pregnancy-specific ones which are completely free from Vitamin A which is definitely known to cause problems. Other fish oils etc are very high in vitamin A.

I wouldn't worry about vitamin E, perhaps don't take separate vitamin E supplements but certainly don't worry about pregnancy supplements which will be within safe limits or ordinary sources of Vitamin E in your diet (nuts, avocado et al)

[coffeeaddict]

Thanks! I'm sure that's sensible. Amazing how one news story can throw you into a tizzy...

[BulletProofMum]

Vit E isn't the same as the Omega.

vit A is the bad one - any one for pg women will be fine.

[coffeeaddict]

But isn't there vitamin E in the omega oil supplements naturally? That's why I avoided them.

This Vitamin E/heart defect thing is so weird, it was reported in all the newspapers at the time but seems to have died away. No-one I've spoken to even knew about it.

I will pretend I never saw it.

[catski]

Yes, I think I read the same story, plus the NHS advice that states that whilst you don't need to avoid vitamin E in food, you don't need to take extra supplements with it in. Problem is that the pregnacare vitamins I have contain 200% of the RDA for vitamin E, plus mumomega capsules I have contain a further 30% of the RDA of vitamin E.

I'm 34 weeks and no abnormalities with the heart have been picked up on ultrasound, so I've also chosen to ignore that particular piece of research!