Pregnancy multivitamins are an ‘unnecessary expense’, with no proven benefit for most women, experts say

Multivitamins and mineral supplements in pregnancy are an “unnecessary expense” with no proven benefits for most well-nourished women or their babies, said a review of science data Tuesday.

Such supplements are heavily marketed to women in all stages of pregnancy as a means of warding off health problems, said the analysis.

Pregnant women are a soft target for products which promise to give their baby the best start in life “regardless of cost”, said the authors.

And while daily doses of a B vitamin called folic acid, and vitamin D to a lesser degree, are known to be beneficial, there is no evidence that cocktails stuffed full of other vitamins are protective.

Some may even be harmful, said the paper: high doses of vitamin A can harm a developing foetus.

Multivitamin and mineral supplements typically contain 20 or more active ingredients.

“We found no evidence to recommend that all pregnant women should take prenatal multi-nutrient supplements beyond the nationally (British) advised folic acid and vitamin D supplements, generic versions of which can be purchased relatively inexpensively,” said the review authors.