Best ingredients for prenatal

The most concentrated and least expensive common calcium salt, supplying about 40% elemental calcium by weight.

Typical: 250–600 mg

Folic acid is the fully oxidized, synthetic form of folate used in food fortification and most supplements.

Typical: 400–800 mcg

A calcium salt of citric acid that does not rely on stomach acid to dissolve, so it can be taken with or without food and is often chosen for older adults and people on acid-reducing medication.

Typical: 200–500 mg

A concentrated extract of ginger rhizome standardized to gingerols, the pungent compounds responsible for most of its studied effects.

Typical: 250–1,000 mg

Ferrous iron chelated with two glycine molecules, the form most prenatal and gentle-iron products now use.

Typical: 18–30 mg

The reference iron salt used in most clinical research and public-health programs, inexpensive and reliably absorbed.

Typical: 18–45 mg

The standard iodine source in multivitamins, prenatals, and thyroid-support formulas, about 76.5% iodine by weight and absorbed almost completely.

Typical: 150–300 mcg

Zinc chelated with two glycine molecules, sold as a gentle, well-absorbed form for people who get nausea from zinc salts.

Typical: 10–25 mg

L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate is the main circulating form of folate and the form cells use directly for homocysteine remethylation, so it bypasses the MTHFR enzyme step that is less active in people carrying the common 677C>T variant.

Typical: 400–1,000 mcg

Algal DHA is docosahexaenoic acid produced by fermenting marine microalgae such as Schizochytrium, the same organisms that fish obtain their DHA from.

Typical: 200–500 mg

A ferrous salt of fumaric acid that carries about 33% elemental iron, the highest of the common iron forms, which keeps tablets small.

Typical: 18–45 mg

Choline bitartrate is the tartaric acid salt of choline and the most economical way to add this essential nutrient to a formula.

Typical: 250–550 mg

Folinic acid (5-formyltetrahydrofolate) is a reduced, metabolically active folate supplied as its calcium salt.

Typical: 400–800 mcg