Prenatal vitamins with Vitamin A and DHA?

[Brandi1234]

I keep reading to avoid vitamin A in supplements while pregnant but yet I’m looking at some recommendations for prenatal vitamins that have vitamin A in them. Now this particular brand is an American one so maybe that’s why? But I’m just confused. Being told to avoid fish oil supplements because of the Vit A but them reading how important it is to get DHA in? (I don’t eat fish)

Just curious on your thoughts on but A and getting enough fish oils. X

[Bigblueskies]

Hi, I had the same issue when I was looking at this! The vit A recommendation is an American one. I avoid any supplements with Vit A, I think there are particular issues in the American diet that don’t apply in Europe.

I tried a few supplements. The most effective one was actually the cheapest, standard pregnacare. I know this from blood results as I had regular measurements of iron, b12 and folate.

I also took a separate vegan DHA capsule without vitamin A. But frankly I stopped it after a while and didn’t bother. It made no difference for me. I think the fish oil is a bit of a hype. There was a review recently of the original study supporting fish oils for brain development and it is not as robust as you’d think. (From memory the control group were given paraffin oil so no surprise that the control group ended up with health issues! But I don’t remember the detail, I may be misquoting).

Please don’t worry too much about this. Vit D and folate are the key ones.