I had my first appointment the other day and was told by my midwife to take both the pregnacare+omega3 supplement I was taking as well as additional folic acid and the fish oil that I just happened to have (there isn't any vitamin A in it).
I checked with the advice line that the total dosage of folic acid (800mcg), DHA (800mg), and vit. D (10mcg) was fine, but I feel a bit unsure about taking a total of 9mg/day of vitamin E from supplements alone, after reading that taking too much of it during pregnancy is not good. The lady on the line just said it's "probably" fine as max. recommended was 15mg/day.
The midwife didn't really look into the nutritional information of the supplements, so I don't think she knew exactly how much vit. E it contained overall.
I wonder if there is anyone who has taken this amount of vit. E during pregnancy and can assure that it's totally fine?
Thanks!
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dd311
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First of all, congratulations on your pregnancy.Is there a reason you were asked to take so many different supplements?I only took vitamin D and folic acid so I can't answer about vitamin E, but first thing I'd make sure is if you definitely need all these supplements.
I don't think so, I'm a healthy weight and there was nothing of concern she mentioned. But I think the idea was that in first trimester I need more folic acid than when trying to conceive, plus extra vitamin D for the dark winter, I assume because I work from home so even less sunshine time. But these were the only two key things she mentioned, so maybe I could just get a vitamin D supplement and ditch the extra fish oil for now cos I really don't think she knew about the vitamin E in it!
9mg of vitamin E is nothing. In studies using vitamin E to improve blood flow to the uterus they used 900iu, which is 600mg using a-tocopherol and 810mg using mixed. I took 600iu a day after embryo transfer and cut back to 200iu (133mg) a day tapering to 100iu (67mg) for the next several weeks after BFP to support blood flow. I have looked at safety studies (including Cochrane) and there is no convincing evidence for a detrimental effect. Combining high dose vitamin E with vitamin C was equivocally harmful (I think a marginal increase in placental abruption) but again we’re talking really really high doses. Xx
The advice you outline in your post sounds quite extreme to me. The NHS recommendations for pregnancy supplements are quite straightforward, only folic acid and Vit D are needed, and you can find the guidance here:
There is no real evidence about omega-3. The biggest study done on that has been recently criticised for using mineral oil in the control group which did cause a higher number of health problems to that group and made the omega-3 recipients appear healthier. I don’t have the review to hand but if interested perhaps it is still somewhere on the web.
Midwives and consultants have advised me to take pregnacare (the basic version) and nothing else because they know it has enough folic acid and enough Vit D in one pill, so it’s easier to remember to take every day. It also has a bit more iron than other ones and no Vit A. It is cheap and widely available. I have never been told to take anything else and I do have a genetic anaemia.
I have read that there is a risk taking too much folic acid when not needed and I would generally be very cautious over-supplementing generally, especially in pregnancy.
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