Needed Prenatal Gummy Vitamins

Note: this post is sponsored by Needed, a brand I genuinely recommend to my clients.

Needed prenatal gummy vitamins are a new supplement that I would like to tell you about:

Now that I am providing medical nutrition therapy via telehealth part-time, it is a pleasure to work with pregnant clients again. As you may know, people need more of some nutrients for a healthy pregnancy. Even before planning a pregnancy, it’s a great idea to work with a Registered Dietitian to find ways to include nutrient dense foods in your day.

Prenatal vitamins are an important way to help ensure you are meeting nutrient needs during pregnancy. They are also helpful before conception and after having a baby.

Why Gummy Vitamins?

I don’t know about you, but I struggle to take any kind of vitamin and mineral supplement that is in a large pill. I find they smell bad, and then I will dread taking it. But gummy vitamins? That’s a game changer for me – it’s a pleasant sweet treat that I actually look forward to having each day. I have been taking gummy multivitamins for years. 

Needed prenatal gummy vitamins look like gumdrops and have a pleasant fruity flavor.

Needed has spent four years developing their new prenatal gummy vitamin. It is difficult to get enough nutrients into gummies, but these new supplements contain 17 different vitamins and minerals. Also, the quantity of several key nutrients is higher in a serving of the Needed prenatal gummies (three gummies) than in the competitors’ prenatal gummies. I’ll highlight some of these differences. 

Let me tell you some reasons why I like the new Needed prenatal gummy vitamins:

• More nutrients compared to other brands
• Excellent flavors: each bottle contains strawberry-banana and orange-passionfruit-pineapple
• There are no artificial dyes, artificial sweeteners, or high fructose corn syrup
• They do not contain gelatin 

(Note: the Vitamin D in these vitamins is not vegetarian)

Key Nutrients in Needed Prenatal Gummy Vitamins

Folate is especially important in the first 28 days of pregnancy for the formation of the neural tube.The RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) is 600 micrograms of Dietary Folate Equivalents. Folate is naturally found in leafy green vegetables, oranges, beans, and nuts. Since most Americans don’t have enough of these foods to meet their folate needs, folic acid has been added to grain foods like refined flour, pasta, bread, and crackers since the 1990’s to try to help prevent neural tube defects. 

Did you know that folate is absorbed better from supplements in the form of folic acid than from food? And the form in Needed prenatal gummies is methylfolate, which is better absorbed if people have a genetic difference that makes it more difficult to absorb folic acid. (Learn more about folate from this page from the National Institutes of Health).

These prenatal gummy vitamins contain 552 micrograms of folate per serving

For vegetarians, Vitamins K2 and B-12 are difficult to meet, as they are found only in animal foods or fortified foods. 

Zinc intake is also typically lower in vegetarians. It’s found in seafood, meats, beans, whole grains, and nuts, and fortified cereals, is not absorbed as well from plant foods. (Learn more about zinc from this page from the National Institutes of Health.)

Vitamins D and E are nutrients that most Americans don’t eat enough of. Vitamin D sources are limited to organ meats, fortified milk and plant milk alternatives, egg yolks, mushrooms grown in ultraviolet light, and fortified foods such as cereals – again – a challenge for vegetarians.

Watch Out for Too Much of Nutrients

Too much of a nutrient is not a good thing. Most nutrients have Tolerable Upper Intake Limits: if people consume more than this, there is an increased risk for negative effects. This is an important thing to consider with any nutrient supplements. 

For example, too much Vitamin A during pregnancy can be harmful. The Needed prenatal gummies contain 58% of the Daily Value for Vitamin A in the serving of 3 gummies, which is well below the Tolerable Upper Intake Limit.

Please note, these gummy vitamins do not contain iron or omega-3 fatty acids. 

The RDA for iron is 27 milligrams per day during pregnancy. Most women don’t consume enough iron from their diets, and iron deficiency is a public health concern. This is especially challenging for vegetarians and vegans because iron from plant sources is not absorbed as well. Be sure to ask your obstetrician about their recommendation for an iron supplement for you, so this can be individualized for your needs and tolerance (Learn more: Iron, National Institutes of Health).

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fatty fish, precursors in foods like walnuts, ground flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, chia seeds. A vegan omega-3 fatty acid supplement made from algae may be advised: again, ask your obstetrician.