#47 - Choosing a Prenatal Vitamin: Vitafusion Prenatal Gummies

How appealing is it that you can take your vitamins as gummy bears?! It was really appealing for me until I did my research. :(

Here's what I found:

Meets recommendations for pregnant women for the following:

• Folic Acid/ Folate
•  Vitamin D
•  Vitamin B6
• Vitamin B3
•  Vitamin A

Exceeds recommendations for pregnant women for the following:

• Vitamin B12
• Excess will be excreted via urination
• Vitamin E
• Too much vitamin E has been linked to congenital heart defects. However, this is at doses greater than 300 mg per day so this product should not be a problem in terms of vitamin E.

Below recommendations for pregnant women for the following:

• Vitamin C
• Easily obtained via diet.
•  Zinc
•  zinc deficiency may also cause an increase in preterm birth
•  The daily requirement for zinc during pregnancy is 15 milligrams, but a higher dose may be needed. That’s because high intake of folic acid can interfere with absorption of zinc and thus create a deficiency of this mineral
• I think I can make this one up with diet. The vitamin will get me to half the dose and some foods high in zinc include chocolate! , beef, and eggs.

Lacks the following: 

•  Calcium
• No calcium in a prenatal vitamin? Seriously?! I would need a calcium supplement considering I drink very little milk

•  Iron
• No iron in a prenatal vitamin? Seriously?!
•  I struggle with iron not pregnant so supplementation for pregnancy will have to be done.

The total lack of calcium AND iron in this vitamin is a deal breaker for me. 

Not to mention it’s also missing these:

·         Vitamin B1

·         Vitamin K

·         Biotin

·         Vitamin B2

·         Vitamin B5

·         Iodine

·         Magnesium

·         Selenium

·         Manganese

·         Chromium

·         Molybdenum

Summary: If I want gummies, I should eat gummies and not try to mix my prenatal nutrition with gummies. 

Verdict: No 


**Disclaimer - I am blogging these to help you learn more about the prenatal vitamins. I'm just a person like you are so do your own research before choosing a vitamin. I'm simply sharing what I learned and what I think about it.