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URL: https://labdoor.com/rankings/ prenatal-vitamins
Pregnant Women Get New Access To Top-Rated Prenatal Vitamins
LabDoor.com Provides New Data and Rankings To Help Future Generations
San Francisco, CA. May 20, 2015 - LabDoor, the supplement testing and rating service today announces its new prenatal vitamin rankings designed to help pregnant women find the best prenatal supplements available on the market.
“It’s a service the FDA isn’t providing, yet we think helping women find high-quality, lab-tested prenatal vitamins before and during pregnancy is one of the most important things anyone can do for future generations,” says Neil Thanedar, CEO of LabDoor. “In the next year, an estimated four million babies will be born in the United States. One in nine of these babies will be born pre-term, a leading cause of developmental delays and neurological disabilities in children.”
To help address the nutrient deficiencies that cause many of these health issues, the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) now recommends that all women capable of becoming pregnant consume 400 µg of folic acid daily and ensure adequate iron and calcium levels. Over 40% of US women of childbearing age already take a daily prenatal supplement.
“Nearly all doctors recommend women to take prenatal vitamins, but few are able to recommend which products are the safest and most effective. LabDoor fills this informational gap with real data on the purity and label accuracy of these supplements,” says Thanedar.
This new report from LabDoor is designed to help women find the best prenatal supplements. LabDoor publishes the actual quantities of each product’s key active ingredients and potential contaminants on its site. You can also select a prenatal vitamins based on its score in LabDoor’s “Quality” and “Value” rankings.
According to the NBJ, $34.8 billion dollars was spent on U.S. supplements in 2013. 68% of all U.S. adults reported taking dietary supplements, including an estimated 4 in 10 Americans who regularly purchase multivitamins.
“It’s so hard to be certain that you’re buying a safe, effective dietary supplement. LabDoor is working to make it easier for people to find the best products for their health,” says Thanedar.
Why should women take prenatal vitamins?
• Pregnant women need 50% more folic acid and iron than other healthy women.
• During pregnancy, a woman’s daily requirement for other nutrients, including vitamin B12 and calcium, will also increase. Many prenatal supplements now also contain docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid to help support fetal brain development.
• Prenatal supplements are specifically formulated to include extra quantities of these nutrients compared to standard multivitamin supplements.
Which nutrients are most important in prenatal vitamins?
• Folic acid intake helps prevent neural tube defects and abnormalities of the brain and spinal cord in the developing fetus. Folic acid is important for the mother as well — deficiencies can lead to the development of anemia and peripheral neuropathy.
• Iron helps prevent anemia, a condition in which the blood lacks adequate amounts of healthy red blood cells, the cells responsible for transporting oxygen throughout the body.
• DHA is necessary for fetal brain and eye development.
Can non-pregnant women take prenatal vitamins?
• Yes, though there are risks.
• Folic acid and iron are both dangerous to consume in excess.
• Prenatal vitamins are often claimed to promote healthier hair, nail, and skin growth compared to standard multivitamins. While these claims are still largely unproven, initial studies point to potential benefits to those currently deficient in nutrients like Biotin (vitamin B7).
LabDoor Tests Preformed:
• LabDoor analyzed 25 best-selling prenatal supplements in the United States.
• Scientists measured the actual quantities of key vitamins (A, B3, B6, C, D, and folic acid), minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and zinc), fatty acids (total omega-3, EPA, and DHA), and heavy metals (antimony, arsenic, bismuth, cadmium, lead, and silver) in each product.
LabDoor Key Results:
• Label accuracy was a major concern with these prenatal vitamins:
- Lab-tested folic acid content ranged from -94% to +306% vs. the products’ stated label claims.
- Among the vitamins, vitamins A and C were the most likely to fall below their label claims, with 6 products recording at least 10% less vitamin A than claimed and 3 products recording at least 10% less vitamin C than claimed.
- Mineral content fared well, with iron, magnesium, and manganese all recording average absolute variances below 10%.
• Nutrient overages (actual quantities were higher than label claims) caused a number of products to exceed IOM-established Tolerable Upper Limits (TUL):
- 7 products exceeded the TUL for folic acid (1000 mcg) in a single serving.
- 3 products exceeded the TUL for vitamin B3 (35 mg) in a single serving.
- 1 product, Thorne Research Basic Prenatal, exceeded the TUL of iron (45 mg) in a single serving.
• Some prenatal vitamins were found to contain controversial additives:
- 4 of 25 products contained at least one artificial coloring agent (Blue 2, Yellow 6, and/or Red 40).
- Other flagged watchlist ingredients include carmine, caramel color, titanium dioxide, butylated hydroxytoluene, and benzoic acid, which were each present in at least two products.
- All 25 prenatal vitamins tested by LabDoor passed all six heavy metals assays:
- Samples contained under 1 PPM (part per million) each of antimony, arsenic, bismuth, cadmium, lead, and silver compounds.
• Full report: https://labdoor.com/rankings/prenatal-vitamins
LabDoor — Testing Process
- Our scientists buy products in the same fashion as the average consumer - through retail stores and online sites.
- These samples are run through a series of analytical chemical assays to measure active ingredient content and identify potential contaminants. All testing is performed in FDA-registered analytical chemistry laboratories.
- Our algorithms then create ratings for each product along five axes - label accuracy, product purity, nutritional value, ingredient safety, and projected efficacy.
- We publish our reports after the first unit of each product is tested. From this date onwards, we will retest a new unit whenever we find that the product has been reformulated and or relabelled. Additionally, we will automatically re-test these products every 12 months even if there has been no sign of a changed formulation to ensure that our data is current.
- Prior to creating LabDoor, Neil Thanedar, CEO of LabDoor, co-founded Avomeen Analytical Services, an FDA-registered analytical chemistry laboratory.
Supplement Industry — Trends
• Consumers shifting supplement purchases: 29% of respondents report frequently changing dietary supplements based on information in the news (Mintel 2009).
• Supplement consumers don’t trust ads: 60% of people think dietary supplement ad claims are untrustworthy (Thomson Reuters 2010).
• Brand loyalty at an all-time low: Only 25% of Americans say that a product’s brand influences their purchasing decisions (E&Y 2012).
About LabDoor
LabDoor is an online review service that helps consumers research, find, and buy the best supplements. Behind the scenes, each product is sent to an FDA-registered laboratory, where scientists perform key purity and label accuracy assays. Consumers can get simple grades and rankings based on these lab results on LabDoor's web, iOS, and Android applications.
To date, LabDoor has received $2.8M in private funding. Mark Cuban is LabDoor’s lead investor. Other investors include Y Combinator, 500 Startups, IncWell Venture Capital, Rock Health, Mayo Clinic, Band of Angels, and 19 individual angel investors.
Sources
Prenatal Vitamins - Mayo Clinic
Multivitamin Supplementation During Pregnancy: Emphasis on Folic Acid and L-Methylfolate - Obstetrics & Gynecology
Births and Natality Statistics - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Folic Acid: Data and Statistics - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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