Prepare for Conception With a Multivitamin

When you begin trying to get pregnant you hear from many different sources that it is a good idea to begin using a prenatal multivitamin before you become pregnant. There are now studies backing this advice. Multivitamins serve as a type of “back up” plan to our diets. While eating a healthy fertility diet is of the utmost importance, it is always a good idea to include a whole food prenatal multivitamin in your program as well.

“A study from Harvard Medical school involving 18,000 women has shown that taking multi vitamins, particularly folic acid, can improve chances of pregnancy…”

That study followed nurses who had hoped to get pregnant for an eight year period. Women who took their multivitamin six times a week were 40% less likely to fail to ovulate than women who took none.

The Importance of Nutrients for Fertility & Pregnancy

Nutrition plays a big roll in having healthy fertility and experiencing a healthy pregnancy. Nutritional deficiencies have been linked to ovulation issues, hormonal imbalances, poor egg health, low sperm count and so much more. We are literally what we eat. Every cell in our bodies that make up our organs, create hormones and enzymes that make us function and these are created by the nutrients we take in through the food we eat. If this is being compromised due to a poor diet or poor digestion the side effects could affect fertility.
Did you know that there are specific nutrients like folic acid that are needed by the young fetus before you can even detect pregnancy, and a deficiency in this nutrient could cause serious birth defects? Another example is iron, iron deficiency has been linked to lack of ovulation.
So nutrition does play a big roll in our health, fertility and in pregnancy. Taking a whole food multivitamin daily can help to fill the gaps where diets may be falling short.

Do You Need to Take a Multivitamin?

Ask yourself these questions Do you skip one meal or more a day? Do you have a food allergy or intolerance? Do you have dark circles under your eyes? Are you under a lot of stress at home or at work on a regular basis? Do you eat a lot of processed foods? Do you eat at least 2 servings of fruits a day? Do you eat at least 3 servings of vegetables a day? Do you get sick often? During your menses do you have dark blood, cramps, or blood clots? Do you get enough sleep? Do you eat at least one dark leafy green a day?

Important Nutrients for Fertility

Vitamin D: Vitamin D is needed to help the body create sex hormones which in turn affects ovulation and hormonal balance. Yale University School of Medicine conducted a study of 67 infertile women, where it was discovered that a mere 7% had normal Vitamin D levels.
Vitamin E: This nutrient as been shown in studies to improve sperm health and motility in men. Studies have also shown a diet deficient in Vitamin E to be a cause of infertility in rats. The meaning of the name for vitamin E, ‘Tocopherol’, literally means to bear young. Vitamin E is also an important antioxidant to help protect sperm and egg DNA integrity.
Vitamin C: Vitamin C improves hormone levels and increases fertility in women with luteal phase defect, according to a study published in Fertility and Sterility. As for men, vitamin C has been shown to improve sperm quality and protect sperm from DNA damage; helping to reduce the chance of miscarriage and chromosomal problems. Vitamin C also appears to keep sperm from clumping together, making them more motile.

“A study published in Fertility and Sterility, states that vitamin C improves hormone levels and increases fertility in women with luteal phase defect.”

B6: Vitamin B₆ may be used as a hormone regulator. It also helps to regulate blood sugars, alleviates PMS, and may be useful in relieving symptoms of morning sickness. B₆ has also been shown to help with Luteal Phase Defect.
B12: Vitamin B₁₂ has been shown to improve sperm quality and production. It also may help to boost the endometrial lining in egg fertilization, decreasing the chances of miscarriage. Some studies have found that a deficiency of B₁₂ may increase the chances of irregular ovulation, and in severe cases stop ovulation altogether.
Folic Acid: Perhaps one of the best known vitamins necessary for pregnancy is folic acid. This vitamin helps prevent neural tube defects as well as congenital heart defects, cleft lips, limb defects, and urinary tract anomalies in developing fetuses. Deficiency in folic acid may increase the risk of going into preterm labor, infant low birth weight and fetal growth retardation. Deficiency may also increase the homocysteine levels in the blood, which can lead to spontaneous abortion and pregnancy complications, such as placental abruption and preeclampsia.
Iron: Studies have shown that women who do not get sufficient amounts of iron may suffer anovulation (lack of ovulation) and possibly poor egg health, which can inhibit pregnancy at a rate 60% higher than those with sufficient iron stores in their blood.

“In a study women who were having ovulation problems, 40% became fertile after supplementing with iron.”

Selenium: This antioxidant helps to protect the eggs and sperm from free radicals. Free radicals can cause chromosomal damage which is known to be a cause of miscarriages and birth defects. Selenium is also necessary for the creation of sperm. In studies, men with low sperm counts have also been found to have low levels of selenium.
Zinc: In women, zinc works with more than 300 different enzymes in the body to keep things working well. Without it, your cells can not divide properly; your estrogen and progesterone levels can get out of balance and your reproductive system may not be fully functioning. According to one study, low levels of zinc have been linked to miscarriage in the early stages of a pregnancy.

What to Look for in a Multivitamin

If you are going to take the time and spend the money on a prenatal multivitamin, you should make sure you are getting the best you can. There is a big difference between quality of different multivitamins and the body’s ability to breakdown, assimilate and utilize the nutrients. The best type of prenatal multivitamin is one that is made from whole foods. This will be easier for your body to breakdown and use since it is closer to food than synthesized vitamins.
So forget about those cheap, low-cost bottles of multivitamins you might find at the wholesale clubs, pharmacies or grocery stores and stick to a whole food preconception multivitamin for the best results.
Also make sure that the multivitamin you choose contains the essential fertility nutrients mentioned above. One last thing, men need to be taking a whole food multivitamin as well, since the male partner will be making up half of the child! The health of his sperm is greatly impacted by the nutrients he is consuming daily.

Can the taking of any type of vitamin or supplement actually help you conceive a child faster than those who don’t take vitamins?  Can vitamins actually increase your fertility?  The answer is “yes” if you ask experts at the Texas Fertility Center.  According to fertility specialists, you need a good nutritional status in order to help your body conceive a child.  This seems to hold true of both men and women.
For women, it may mean just taking a good prenatal vitamin.  Research has indicated that taking a prenatal vitamin (in women) can not only decrease your chances of having a preterm birth and decrease your chances of pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting, but it can maximize your fertility.
In one recent study, women who were trying to get pregnant through fertility treatments got pregnant faster than women who didn’t take prenatal vitamins.  In fact, the participants who took prenatal vitamins had a doubling of their chances of becoming pregnant when compared to participants who just took folic acid prior to conceiving.
What this means is that it is possible to get pregnant faster if you take a prenatal vitamin, although research hasn’t been done on women who aren’t undergoing fertility treatments and who take a prenatal vitamin. Prenatal vitamins can be purchased over the counter and can’t hurt you, even if you take them while not pregnant.
These particular vitamins have the ability to enhance your fertility.  You can take them alone or as a part of the total prenatal pill package:

Zinc

Zinc is good for both the male and the female trying to get pregnant. Zinc is good to take in women because it enhances your ability to ovulate (therefore increasing your fertility). In men, both the testosterone level and semen quality are enhanced when the man takes zinc as part of fertility treatments.  A deficiency in zinc seems to be related to poor production of semen, according to research sponsored by the American Pregnancy Association.  How much should you take?  Try taking 11 mg zinc (in men) or 8 mg zinc (in women), according the Office of Dietary Supplements and the NIH.  If you don’t want to take a zinc supplement and rather want to take it in the food you eat, you should eat a lot of oysters, lobster, crab, grains, dairy products and beans—all good sources of zinc.

Folic acid

This is one of the most important vitamin a woman should take, even if she is just trying to get pregnant. According to the American Pregnancy Association, if you happen to be a woman of childbearing age, you need to take in about 400 mcg of folic acid per day.  Folic acid is one of the B vitamins used to make red blood cells inside the body.  If you take folate in early pregnancy (or have it already in your body at the time of conception), your chances of having a neural tube defect are much less. Neural tube defects include anencephaly and spina bifida—two conditions that happen when the neural tube fails to close in early gestation.  Folic acid or folate can be taken in prior to pregnancy so your stores of these vitamins are higher when you conceive.  Folate and folic acid are similar: folate acid is the natural form of the B vitamin, while folic acid is the synthetic form.  Both folate and zinc supplements have been found to maximize fertility in men.  If you don’t want to take a supplement, try getting your folate from leafy green vegetables, whole grains, and citrus fruits.

Coenzyme Q10

This is isn’t technically a vitamin, but is a good supplement to take if you are trying to conceive a healthy child. Research has been done on animals indicating that adding Coenzyme Q10 to female, older mice, helped to improve their egg quality.  Similar research studies are currently being done in human participants.  Men seem to benefit from taking extra coenzyme Q 10 as well.  A study by the Mayo Clinic revealed that, when men take a supplement containing this substance, the sperm count can be increased, thereby improving their chances of helping a woman conceive a child.  Normal recommended daily allowance of folate is about 30 to 200 milligrams, taken all at once or several times per day.

Omega 3 fatty AcidsThis is a type of fatty acid you can take in by eating a lot of cold water fatty fish, taking a supplement of fish oil, or eating certain oils obtained by nuts or other plants.  It has been found to be especially helpful in women undergoing in vitro fertilization treatments.  One study out of the Netherlands looked at embryo quality in women undergoing in vitro fertilization found that the embryos were of better quality if the woman took a supplement of omega 3 fatty acids while undergoing the procedure.

Iron

You need to be taking iron before you get pregnant in order to have adequate stores of the vitamin at the time of conception.  It is recommended that non-pregnant women take 18 milligrams per day of iron, while a woman who is pregnant should take about 27 milligrams per day of iron.  Iron is important in both the pregnancy and non-pregnancy states as it is vital in making hemoglobin.  Hemoglobin is the molecule that carries oxygen from the lungs to the peripheral tissues as part of cellular metabolism.  You can take supplemental iron in pill or liquid form, or you can get it through the eating of iron-rich foods, such as leafy green vegetables, tofu, and red meats.

Calcium

Calcium is recommended for all women of childbearing age.  Nutritional experts say that, in order to get pregnant, you should take in about 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day.  This enhances your calcium stores and will help your baby in its growth and development after you conceive.  Calcium can be taken as a separate supplement or as part of a prenatal vitamin.  If you don’t like these large, chalky pills, try getting your calcium through leafy green vegetables and milk—both of which are high in calcium.

Vitamin B6

This vitamin has been found to reduce unwanted symptoms in early pregnancy if you take it prior to conception. Try taking 10 milligrams of vitamin B6 daily when trying to conceive because this has been shown through research to decrease the frequency of morning sickness.

Antioxidants

This can be a vitamin that is also an antioxidant or a non-vitamin that is also an antioxidant.  Vitamins C and E are both vitamins that also have antioxidant powers.  One research study showed that men who didn’t get enough antioxidants in their diet had semen quality that was poorer than men who got enough antioxidants in their diet.  There are supplements that are high in antioxidants but you can also take in antioxidants in your food. Sunflower seeds and almonds are high in vitamin E, while oranges and strawberries are high in vitamin C.

L Carnitine

This is a good thing to take if you are a man trying to conceive a child. L carnitine seems to be important in the metabolism and maturity of sperm.  Men who take L carnitine might be able to better enhance their sperm motility and will be able to conceive a child when compared to not taking L carnitine.

Men’s Vitamins

Conception depends on healthy nutritional states in both the male and female.  For men trying to achieve a pregnancy in their partner, the addition of oysters, fruits, and vegetables can provide the right kinds of vitamins for the enhancement of male fertility.