Doctor's Best Prenatal Essential with Choline & DHA features five nutrients important for healthy pregnancy that may be difficult to get from diet alone: Choline (VitaCholine), Folate (Quatrefolic), Vitamin B12, Iron (Ferrochel) and DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid Omega-3). Prenatal Essentials with Choline & DHA also includes folate, which offers the biologically-active form of folic acid. Folate and folic acid have been shown to support healthy pregnancy in multiple human clinical trials. Methylcobalamin, is the more biologically-active form of Vitamin B-12. It also includes a high-quality form of Iron, ferrous bisglycinate chelate. Our DHA, which is shown to support healthy pregnancy, is from a vegetarian source of Omega-3, algae of Schizochytrium sp.
Choline plays a major role in providing healthy methylation* Methylation is one of the body's most important and most common chemical processes, occurring in hundreds of essential chemical reactions. Many people have compromised methylation, which can cause or contribute to almost all health conditions.
The Role of Choline in Healthy Pregnancy*
Choline, a micronutrient found in food, plays a key role in healthy fetal development, particularly healthy brain development. The National Institute of Health established an Adequate Intake level of 425 mg/day for women, with upward adjustments to 450 and 550 mg/day during pregnancy and lactation, respectively. The importance of choline is supported by observations that a human fetus receives a large supply of choline during gestation; pregnancy depletes choline pools; human neonates are born with blood levels three times higher than maternal blood concentrations; and large amounts of choline are present in human milk. Central nervous system development is particularly sensitive to choline availability. Data show the majority of pregnant (and presumably lactating) women are not achieving target intake levels and common genetic variants may increase choline requirements beyond recommendations. Because choline is not in most prenatal vitamins (or multivitamins), choline supplementation may be needed to meet high pre- and postnatal demands for choline.1
A growing body of research supports choline as an essential nutrient during early development with life-long effects on memory and attentional processes. A review describes effects of alterations in dietary choline availability both in adulthood and during early development. Although modest effects of choline on cognitive processes have been reported when choline is administered to adult animals, the perinatal period is a critical time for cholinergic organization of brain function. Choline supplementation during this period increases memory capacity and precision of young adults and appears to prevent age-related memory and attentional decline. Deprivation of choline during early development leads to compromised cognitive function and increased decline with age. The authors conclude that choline availability may be related to relatively permanent alterations in cholinergic synapse function, which they call 'metabolic imprinting'.2
Vitamin B-12 Role in Healthy Pregnancy*
A randomized, partially open-labeled intervention trial examined the effect of supplemental high-quality protein and vitamin B-12 on third-trimester methionine kinetics. Pregnant women with low serum vitamin B-12 concentrations (<200 pmol/L) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: the first group received balanced protein-energy supplementation of 500 mL milk/d plus a 10-µg vitamin B-12 tablet/d (M+B-12 group; n = 30), the second group received milk (500 mL/d) plus a placebo tablet (M+P group; n = 30), and the third group received a placebo tablet alone (P group; n = 33). Third-trimester fasting plasma amino acid kinetics were measured. Placental mRNA expression of genes involved in methionine pathways, placental long interspersed nuclear elements 1 (LINE-1) methylation, and promoter methylation levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were analyzed. The study concluded that combined vitamin B-12 and balanced protein-energy supplementation increased the homocysteine remethylation rate in late pregnancy. Thus, vitamin B-12 along with balanced protein-energy supplementation is critical for optimal functioning of the methionine cycle in the third trimester of pregnancy in these women with low serum vitamin B-12 in early pregnancy.27
Folate is Important for Healthy Pregnancy*
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> In a secondary analysis of data from a double-blind randomized controlled trial, researchers assessed the effect of prenatal supplementation with multiple micronutrients (MMN) or iron + folic acid (IFA), versus folic acid (FA) alone, on risk of spontaneous preterm birth (SPB) and the impact of supplementation timing on SPB. A total of 18,775 nulliparous pregnant women enrolled between 2006 and 2009 were randomly assigned to receive daily FA, IFA, or MMN from the period before 20 weeks' gestation to delivery. Starting use of FA, IFA, or MMN supplements before the 12th week of gestation produced a 41%-45% reduction in risk of SPB. The authors concluded that early prenatal enrollment and micronutrient use, including folic acid and iron, during the first trimester of pregnancy appeared to be of importance for SPB risk reduction.17
