USANA Prenatal CellSentials – Pregnancy Vitamins

Prenatal CellSentials Vitamins deliver excellent nutrition for all the stages of your pregnancy

If you are pregnant or hope to be soon, it’s time to focus on your nutrition. In addition to eating a balanced diet, a prenatal supplement can help support a healthy pregnancy and birth.

When should you start taking a prenatal supplement?

Most experts agree you need the right amount of key nutrients in your body at least three months before conception. Starting a supplement with folic acid several weeks before you get pregnant will help ensure you have enough folate for the baby from the very beginning.*

Neural tube closure is critical for the proper development of the brain and spinal cord.* Consuming healthful diets with adequate folate throughout the childbearing years may reduce the risk of having a child with a birth defect of the brain or spinal cord.

Folic acid from fortified food or supplements converts to folate in the body. It’s urgently important for a woman to have plenty of folate in her body immediately when her baby starts to develop. It is needed for closure of the neural tube in the very first weeks of pregnancy, often before a woman even realizes she’s pregnant.*

Some research has shown benefits for folic-acid supplementation as long as a year before pregnancy. That’s why women of childbearing age should always consume at least 400 mcg of folic acid a day, even if they aren’t planning to get pregnant.

A daily multivitamin and mineral supplement is a good way to help ensure you won’t be missing this key nutrient when it matters most.

Pregnancy increases your nutritional needs.

Your body is working harder than ever. The fetus requires a wide range of nutrients to support healthy growth and development. This means you and your baby need a full range of micronutrients to support good health as well as normal growth and development from head to toe.* 

The Prenatal CellSentials Vitamins contains two products: Prenatal Vita Antioxidant and Core Minerals designed to work together to deliver the best daily nutrition for you and your developing baby.

Prenatal Vita Antioxidant and Core Minerals provide important vitamins and minerals recommended for a healthy pregnancy by the American Pregnancy Association.

Together provide essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other vital nutrients. You’ll find ample folic acid, iron, calcium, and vitamin D. And you also get advanced amounts of nutrients like iodine, magnesium, and choline. Plus, there’s additional antioxidant protection and added defense for healthy cells with lutein, lycopene, and coenzyme Q10.

Prenatal Vita Antioxidant and Prenatal Core Minerals are carefully formulated by a team of experts in nutritional science. They contain the purest ingredients. They are also made using manufacturing processes modeled after those used in the pharmaceutical industry.

Benefits you get from the nutrients in the Prenatal CellSentials Vitamins:

Vitamin A/Beta Carotene 

The right balance of Vitamin A is important throughout the stages of fetal development. It supports the healthy formation of the heart and circulatory system, organs, skin, eyes, ears, limbs, as well as bones and teeth.*

Vita Antioxidant provides 9000 mcg (3,000 retinol activity equivalents [RAE]) of beta carotene and mixed carotenoids per day. The beta carotene form of vitamin A is a safe, non-retinoid form of this essential nutrient that poses no toxicity risk.

Vitamin C 

Vitamin C is essential for helping the body make collagen. This protein is a building block for cartilage, tendons, bones, and healthy skin. Vitamin C also helps your body absorb iron properly and supports your immune system. 

Vitamin D

Recent studies have also shown a positive correlation between maternal vitamin D status and healthy neonatal outcomes. This includes healthy birth weight and brain development. Daily intakes as high as 100 mcg (4,000 IU) during pregnancy have demonstrated a number of benefits for both mother and baby, including strong immunity.

By continued vitamin D supplementation at 50 mcg (2,000 IU) per day has also been shown to help reduce the risk of infant deficiency during breastfeeding.*

Folic Acid/Folate

Folic acid is one nutrient that is especially important to take prior to conception for normal neurological development.* Healthful diets with adequate folate may reduce a woman’s risk of having a child with a brain or spinal cord birth defect. Additional benefits for folic acid/folate include healthy birth size and weight, as well as healthy heart development. It has also been linked to maintaining healthy homocysteine levels, which is important for a healthy pregnancy.*

Prenatal Vita Antioxidant is an excellent source of 1,000 mcg of dietary folate equivalents (DFE) as folic acid. This equates to 600 mcg of folic acid – an amount that meets the recommendation by nutritional experts.*

 B Vitamins

Biotin: The rapidly dividing cells of the developing fetus require biotin to aid in regulating healthy cellular responses. Prenatal Vita Antioxidant is an excellent source of biotin. Many women – pregnant or not – turn to prenatal vitamins in hopes of getting their hair to grow. Biotin is the nutrient often associated with benefits for hair. Hormone status during pregnancy is also a factor, which can cause fluctuations in the amount of hair lost during and after pregnancy. So, taking a well-balanced multi – in addition to a balanced, healthy diet – may help you avoid the risk of deficiencies, which can include hair loss. It will not, however, reduce any hair loss associated with a normal pregnancy.*

Pantothenic acid: This B vitamin plays a role in tissue formation as well as metabolism, which is necessary for you to get energy from the foods you eat. It also supports muscle function and relaxation, which is important for supporting your body during pregnancy and birth.*

Vitamin B1 (Thiamin[e]): Thiamin helps maintain your energy levels. It supports fetal cellular health and brain development.*

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Riboflavin supports energy levels, good eyesight, and healthy skin.*

Vitamin B3 (Niacin): Niacin helps promote healthy digestion, skin, and brain and nervous system development.*

Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine): Pyridoxine helps support normal brain and nerve development, as well as the formation of red blood cells. It may also help relieve morning sickness.*

Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin): Vitamin B12 supports the development of the brain and nervous system. It also is needed for energy metabolism and red-blood-cell formation.*

Vitamin E

This essential, fat-soluble vitamin will help your body make red blood cells. It also supports muscle and nerve development, vascular health, and cellular fluidity. Vitamin E helps your body use vitamin K properly.* Chances are good you need more vitamin E. It is estimated that 90 percent of people don’t consume enough. So, supplementing can help you avoid deficiency.

Vitamin K

Vitamin K is useful for ensuring the proper use of calcium in the body. It’s also required for normal blood clotting.*

 Choline

Choline plays a role in energy metabolism, liver health, and maintaining normal homocysteine levels. Most importantly, it provides building blocks for several important compounds needed for fetal development, particularly the brain.* 

Demand for choline during pregnancy and lactation is high. It must be consumed in the diet and most women typically don’t get enough. But, it is often overlooked in prenatal formulations. At 102 mg per day, the Prenatal CellSentials delivers one of the most effective doses you can find.*

Iron

Maternal blood volume increases by nearly 50 percent during pregnancy. So, iron supplementation beginning by the second trimester is important for supporting the healthy production of red blood cells. These cells help transport oxygen and nutrients to the fetus. Maternal iron is also needed during pregnancy and lactation to provide the infant with sufficient iron stores to last through the first four to six months of life. After that period, supplementary feeding is usually recommended. Prenatal Core Minerals is an excellent source of iron. *

Calcium

Calcium is important for a healthy pregnancy and maintaining the mother’s bone density. The mother’s calcium status is also important for the baby. Calcium is transferred from the mother to the baby to help support the healthy development of bones, teeth, tissues, and muscles. On average, in the last trimester of pregnancy, 300 mg of calcium is transmitted to the fetus daily.*

Iodine

A woman’s need for iodine increases considerably during pregnancy and while nursing. It’s needed to support metabolism and maternal thyroid hormone production, which plays a role in healthy fetal growth. Some estimates state that iodine uptake by the thyroid gland increases by as much as 45 percent in pregnancy. Adequate iodine during pregnancy is absolutely vital for supporting the healthy development of cognitive function in babies and children. It also helps build the skeleton. The Prenatal Core Minerals supplement delivers 240 mg of iodine per day – more than is provided by most other prenatal supplements on the market.*

Magnesium

Another important nutrient that’s often under-delivered by other prenatal supplements is magnesium. And most pregnant women don’t get enough. Magnesium is needed to support healthy fetal growth. It supports calcium absorption for strong bones and teeth. And it’s involved with glucose regulation and cardiovascular health, including supporting healthy circulation and blood pressure (that’s already normal).*

Copper

When taking iron, it’s important to maintain a good balance with copper to support normal brain and nervous system development. Copper also supports the healthy development of connective tissues and the central nervous system. This element aids in the production of red blood cells to help meet the mother’s increased needs. Plus, it helps your body make melatonin, so you can get some sleep.*

 Zinc

Having enough zinc in your body, especially during the third trimester until you are finished nursing, is a key part of a healthy pregnancy. Zinc regulates the function of several key processes needed for healthy fetal growth and development. It supports nearly 100 different enzymes that function throughout the body. It supports cellular stability and helps folate move across cell membranes. It supports healthy eyes, kidneys, muscles, skin, and bones. Zinc also serves as a necessary structural component of DNA-binding proteins that affect gene expression. It aids in the manufacture of heme and essential fatty-acid metabolism.*

Chromium

Chromium is needed to help maintain already normal blood glucose levels.*

Selenium

Selenium intakes during pregnancy have been associated with normal birth weight. It also supports healthy nervous and immune system development.*

The Prenatal CellSentials Vitamins help keep your cells healthy during pregnancy.

During pregnancy, can be considerable oxidative stress generated in the body. If left unchecked, too much oxidative stress can damage cells, proteins, and other vital organic substances that are needed for healthy DNA. This makes antioxidant protection a key part of supporting a healthy pregnancy. Dietary antioxidants support cells’ natural defense systems and can help protect against oxidative stress.* The Prenatal CellSentials help keep your cells healthy during pregnancy with a broad range of antioxidants. Many vitamins and minerals – including selenium, vitamins C and E – plus ingredients like coenzyme Q10, lycopene, and lutein provide antioxidant activity. And the InCelligence Complex supports your body’s natural cellular defenses by encouraging your cells to produce their own antioxidants.*

L-cysteine HCl is another antioxidant found in the Prenatal CellSentials. One study has shown positive pregnancy outcomes when this nutrient is combined with folic acid. It also supports liver health. This is important for helping your body naturally process everything you eat and drink, as well as eliminating any chemicals or toxins.*

Beyond Prenatal CellSentials Vitamins

Also, there are a few additional supplements to consider taking while you are pregnant.

The American Pregnancy Association recommends pregnant women take at least 300 mg of DHA per day. Adequate omega-3 fatty acid intake during pregnancy has shown benefits for both mother and baby. For example, omega-3s help supports a normal mood after you deliver. And passing DHA to baby has shown significant benefits for eye, lung, and cognitive function in childhood*

USANA’s BiOmega supplement provides healthy levels of omega-3s from purified fish oil sourced from sustainable resources. It also provides an additional boost of vitamin D.*

Prenatal CellSentials Vitamins may help you meet your daily needs for calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D. However, you might consider adding a separate supplement with these nutrients. Calcium is quite large as an ingredient, so a separate supplement is generally required to deliver the advanced amounts most women want. And as mentioned above, doses of up to 100 mcg of vitamin D have been shown to support positive pregnancy outcomes, so you could still safely add another 50 mg on top of the Prenatal Vita Antioxidant.

Check out USANA’s MagneCal D for a product with balanced levels of magnesium and calcium plus more vitamin D.

Pregnancy Nutrition Helps You Build a Healthy Baby

Pregnancy is a critical time in human development. Nutrition is a vital component of a healthy pregnancy and outcome. A baby cannot develop into a healthy, thriving human without the proper building materials to support healthy development. Diet and lifestyle habits impact all stages, starting with your future fertility. They help determine your child’s nutritional health and birth weight. And your diet and lifestyle provide a model for children’s future eating habits from fetalhood, childhood, and into adulthood.

Before taking a prenatal vitamin supplement or any other type of vitamin or supplement, consult with your doctor. (If you’d like to take the supplement facts for the Prenatal CellSentials to your doctor, please download them under the Key Ingredients link below.)

Prenatal CellSentials Vita Antioxidant Supplement Facts
Prenatal Core Minerals Supplement Facts

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.