Ever wonder if there’s something you should be getting more of now that you’re trying to get pregnant? Well, there's actually a few things. According to Natalie Burger, MD, a fertility specialist at Texas Fertility Center, good nutrition can help you get pregnant and prep your body for baby. Here are the vitamins you should take: Newsflash: You and your partner should be getting plenty of zinc. Zinc contributes to ovulation and fertility in women and also semen and testosterone production in men, according to the American Pregnancy Association. “It has been noted that zinc deficiency can correlate with impaired sperm production,” says Burger. The Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health recommends that men receive a daily intake of 11 mg of zinc and women take 8 mg. Oysters have more zinc per serving than any other food, but if the thought of those slimy shells don't appeal to you, you can also consume other zinc-rich foods like whole grains, crab and lobster
, beans and dairy products. This one is a must-have. The American Pregnancy Association recommends that all women of childbearing age consume about 400 micrograms of folic acid a day. Folic acid is a B-complex vitamin that is used by the body to create red blood cells. This vitamin makes extra blood for your body during pregnancy and it decreases the possibility of a neural tube defect (a problem in baby’s spinal cord). Folic acid is the synthetic form of this vitamin, while folate is the naturally occurring form; both are okay to use. Since baby’s neural tube develops in the first few weeks of pregnancy, it’s important to be prepared. “Both zinc and folate are important in the synthesis of DNA and RNA,” says Burger. “Zinc and folate supplementation may benefit some male infertility cases.” You can get your daily intake of folic acid from citrus fruits, whole grains and leafy greens. If you’re already taking a multivitamin, you’re in good shape. If you’re not, start taking one now.
“In a large study following over 18,000 women who were trying to get pregnant, researchers found a correlation between taking a multivitamin supplement and having a lower chance of ovulation problems,” says Burger. Studies show that taking supplements of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) may help with both female and male infertility. “Preliminary animal data has suggested that the addition of CoQ10 may improve egg quality in ‘old’ mice,” says Burger. “The correlating human study is ongoing.” There is also evidence that CoQ10 can increase sperm count. According to the Mayo Clinic, CoQ10 is produced by the body and is necessary for the basic functioning of cells. For adults, the recommended daily dosage is 30 - 200 mg in divided doses throughout the day. Take this essential fatty acid found in fish oil or certain plant or nut oils if you’re undergoing IVF treatments. Your body can’t make omega 3 fatty acid; you have to get it through food. “Increased omega 3 free fatty acid intake has been associated with improved embryo quality in an IVF study done in the Netherlands,” says Burger.
Start increasing the amount of iron in your diet now if you are not getting enough. Women’s recommended iron intake is 18 mg a day, but pregnant women need around 27 mg daily. Iron is used to make hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying component of red blood cells. If your body doesn’t have enough iron, your body’s tissues and organs won’t get the oxygen they need to function properly. You can normally get this amount in your multivitamin, but you can also find iron in foods like red meat, tofu and dark leafy green vegetables. Nutrition experts recommend that women looking to get pregnant should consume around 1,000 mg a day, because when you do become pregnant your growing baby will need calcium. Actually, it’s also recommended that all adults between ages 19 and 50 consume that amount of calcium in order to form strong bones and prevent osteoporosis. That’s a crazy amount — even for a multivitamin! You can take a separate calcium supplement or take an over-the-counter prenatal formula.
Working calcium into your diet isn’t a bad idea either: Drink lots of milk and eat leafy greens. Take this vitamin now to head off nasty pregnancy symptoms after you conceive. Research suggests that women who consumed at least 10 mg of vitamin B6 before they conceived reported less morning sickness than those who didn’t. In addition to zinc and CoQ10, guys who are trying to conceive can also take the following vitamins to boost their fertility: Taking these supplements like vitamin C and vitamin E may help with fertility. “In a small Spanish study comparing fertile and infertile men, a low intake of antioxidant nutrients was associated with poor semen quality,” says Burger. You can take these vitamins in pill form or consume foods like oranges and strawberries (for vitamin C) and almonds and sunflower seeds (for vitamin E). “It’s a substance that serves as an energy source for sperm and it plays an important role in sperm maturation and metabolism,” says Burger.
“The addition of L-carnitine may enhance sperm motility in some male factor infertility cases.” You can get L-carnitine in supplement form. Plus more from The Bump: 6 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Fertility 8 Surprising Facts About Male InfertilityWhen I was 2 I ate a whole bottle of Flintstones vitamins. Needless to say, a scary trip to the hospital and a stomach pumping followed. And I’ve hated taking pills ever since.Having said that, I don’t think we can get every nutrient we need from our diets. Unfortunately, our depleted soils produce foods that aren’t as nutritionally dense as they could be. I also live a busy life, and don’t always get as many vegetables and fat soluble vitamins in each day.So, I take pregnancy supplements, and I’ll list them out below. Now, as you can see, I took a lot of different things but the majority are FOOD-BASED and easy for our bodies to recognize and utilize. This is me using food as medicine :). The food-based doses are much less than synthetic vitamins and minerals.
This makes it safer and explains why I take so many. Read through and take what works and leave the rest. Always, always, talk to your doctor or midwife to find out what is best for your body.If you’re looking for the best prenatal vitamins, click for a whole post on that. Quick note: I take 95% of these when I’m not pregnant, so hopefully everyone can relate to this post :).Here’s what I take for Pregnancy Supplements.I always take my prenatal pregnancy supplement as an insurance policy to make sure the baby and I are getting what we need. We did a whole review on the best prenatal here. In my pregnancy, I used MegaFood Baby & Me 2 (where to buy). This is a food-based pregnancy supplement, which I like because they are natural and easier to digest. I like MegaFood because they are high in iodine, have a good zinc/copper ration and are what I took with Griffin and Paloma. Another comparable option is the Vitamin Code prenatal, which contains additional probiotics and digestive enzymes.
They’re also smaller and you take less (3 versus 4).Again, here’s a whole post on the best prenatal vitamins for you.In my opinion, this is one of the most important pregnancy supplements (and are great for nursing too). It contains naturally occurring fat soluble vitamins A & D, which are vital for baby’s brain and eye development, bone and teeth structure, and so forth. Weston A. Price, a dentist who traveled the world studying cultures with the highest longevity rates, found that the healthiest people consumed 10X the amount of fat soluble vitamins A & D so he was a huge fan of cod liver oil. This particular form of fish oil is also high in omega 3’s and the fatty acids EPA and DHA. Again, critically important for baby’s development and mom’s health.There are several good brands on the market:Most other cod liver oils on the market, use heat to remove contaminants and naturally occurring vitamins. They then synthetically add them back in. High doses of synthetic vitamin A have been linked to birth defects so best to avoid.
The Weston A. Price Foundation recommends up to 20,000 IU of natural, “food-based” vitamin A from cod liver oil. Keep in mind that this is more than double than what most practitioners recommend. I went with 10,000 IU and felt good about that. If you want to be super conservative, you could do 5,000 IU per day.Weston A. Price found that “magic” occurred when he combined cod liver oil with high vitamin butter oil and it’s special qualities.We now know that it contains another fat soluble vitamin, vitamin K2, which helps take calcium out of the wrong places in our bodies (i.e. kidneys, arteries, etc.) and into the right places like bones and teeth. It’s also great for cancer prevention. Because vitamin K2 regulates clotting in the blood, I don’t take daily when pregnant. Instead, I took a few times a week and love it because again, it’s a food-based supplement.I found this pregnancy supplement really helped with tooth sensitivity and keeped my skin super soft. I rotated between taking the butter oil (where to buy) and the cheaper vitamin K2 supplement (where to buy), which is derived from fermented soy (natto).
Again, the more we can get nutrients from food, the better!I started taking a vitamin B complex (where to buy) about 6 months before I got pregnant. My midwife suggested this to build up my folate stores. I took this one from Vitamin Code. I’ve also taken MegaFood’s vitamin B complex. Since I still had some left, I kept taking it as a pregnancy supplement here and there throughout the first trimester. I also took 50 mg of Vitamin B6 with each meal to help with first trimester nausea. I stopped taking at 14 weeks once the queasiness went away. If you have the MTHFR mutations, you will want to take a methylated B vitamin like this one. If you are looking for a purely food-based option, take a tablespoon of bee pollen and/or add 2 TB of nutritional yeast flakes to your yogurt or smoothie each day. I like this brand because they don’t add any synthetic B’s to the flakes.I’ve seen stats that state anywhere from 60-95% of the U.S. population is deficient in magnesium. This pregnancy supplement also helps with morning sickness.
Most importantly, it keeps things moving… if you get my drift. When we get pregnant, the hormones can slow things down, including our digestion and bowels. Magnesium is a wonderful remedy for constipation.The rule of thumb for dosage is to take magnesium until your stool get loose. For me, the perfect dosage seems to be about 500 mg a day. I would recommend a combination of Pure Encapsulations Magnesium Glycinate and Ancient Minerals Magnesium spray, which you apply topically. Update: Do not use magnesium citrate supplements as these drop your ceruloplasmin levels. You can read more about here.I’ve also discovered the wonders of vitamin C. Unfortunately, most prenatals are very low in this important vitamin. The key is to use a food-based form of vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is usually derived from GMO-corn and is a synthetic isolate that can cause imbalances elsewhere in the body. Just 1/2-1 teaspoon of a good food-based fruit powder will give you a great boost of natural C, with all of its natural co-factors, to keep your immune system strong.
Vitamin C is also excellent when pregnant because it strengthens your bag of waters (possibly preventing premature rupture) and it’s super nourishing for your baby’s placenta. It also helps to regulate copper and iron levels in the body.I like taking one while pregnant and I rotate my brands to expose myself to as many different bacterial strains as possible. Right now, I’m using Natren. I like it because it’s high in bifidophilus, which is important for good gut health. I’ve also used Klaire Labs, Dr. Ohrika, and Bio-K. But my favorite probiotic is probably Prescript Assist since it’s a hearty soil-based organism. Just Thrive is another great soil-based one. It’s more “natural” than some of the other isolated strains. Of course, a great, food-based way to get good probiotics is eat fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, kombucha, sauerkraut, etc.I think everyone can benefit from taking one. I like these digestive enzymes from Vitamin Code. Just one at each meal takes away any indigestion.