Prenatal supplementing and what we should be taking!

[teileen276]

I’ve been doing some research into which prenatal supplements I should be taking and came across a blog talking about iodine in pregnancy and honestly, it surprised me.

Apparently, less than half of prenatal supplements contain enough iodine, even though it’s a key nutrient for fertility, pregnancy, and our baby’s brain and nervous system development.

During pregnancy we actually need more iodine than before… yet it’s often missing from prenatals altogether.

Even more worrying, some prenatal supplements contain unsafe levels of toxic metals like lead and arsenic. It really made me stop and think about how important it is to check what we’re putting into our bodies.

Just wanted to share this here in case it helps other mums too🤍

Do you have a scientific source for this info other than a random blog?

I should think it would be a national scandal if prenatal supplements had 'unsafe levels of toxic metals'

Are you in the USA? Supplements are regulated very well over there.
The NHS recommends taking folic acid when before you’re pregnant up until 12 weeks. Everything else, including iodine, you can probably get from your diet. If you’re vegan you may well need a supplement. They put iodine in table salt to help keep everyone’s levels about right. You can absolutely have too much iodine so they are careful about how much is put in supplements. Seaweed is a really good source of iodine but sometimes it actually comes with warnings against eating more than a certain amount of it per day because it’s such a good source of iodine.
I’d never buy supplements online. I’d always get them from a pharmacy. Hopefully that strategy would help avoid contaminated poorly regulated products.

Funny I put seaweed snacks on my shopping list yesterday as I was wondering if I got enough iodine. I think I’ll limit to just a little per week.

agree with the first poster that toxic levels of heavy metals in prenatals bought at a pharmacy would be already addressed by the government ha. People are brutal enough without having new generations of children with lead poisoning (there is a link between violent crime and lead exposure at childhood!)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40020868/. There are a few that are considered 'safe levels' but I always double check and make sure the ones I am taking are third party tested. I hope I'm not coming across as scare mongering I just thought it was good information to share!

UK here! Yes too much Iodine can negatively effect the thyroid and lead to bigger issues so I try to be super conscious of what it's in. I do supplement my seaweed from a local brand that harvests in Scotland and I trust their sourcing from what I have researched of the brand.

I find it hard to make up everything I need in diet alone, when I seen how much fibre I need per day and what it is in; I realised I have barely any at all :/

Oh Id love to look into that, is there a specific research page you found that link from?

I mean, fibre is kind of easy. Add more fruit and veg. Plus try to use whole grains where you can.

Most people get enough iodine in their diet in the UK due to salt.

Plus 10g of chia seeds = 5g fibre.

Sorry I missed your reply, @teileen276 , did you mean discussions on the link between lead exposure and violence? Funny it’s something I feel like I was taught in high school! Not scientific itself but here’s a Wikipedia page which will have many links within it!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis