Can you Buy the Best Prenatal Vitamins in Generic Form?
Buying generic or store brands is sometimes self defeating when it comes to best prenatal vitamins. They always seem to hit the mark when it comes to Folic Acid, with the daily increased dosage for pregnant or lactating women recently increased to a recommended dosage of 800 mcg per day. Many however fall short in the calcium department with most generic brands standardizing at the 200 mcg level. Check with your doctor to see if you should be supplementing with additional calcium or not.
Where they really fall short of being the best prenatal vitamins is in the Vitamin A quantity and source. The average dosage is usually accurate but only 25 % of the vitamin A, of the 4,000 IU total, is available as beta-carotene. A few generic brands were at the 50% level which is close but not what the doctor ordered.
Prenatal vitamins do not need FDA approval, so there is no “equivalence ratings” to compare with. Because a generic prenatal vitamin has not been shown to be equivalent to a brand-name prenatal vitamin does not mean that it is inferior. In the recent past, both brand-name and generic prenatal vitamins have had problems with dissolving adequately. What is most important is that you choose a prenatal vitamin from a manufacturer that you trust. Most chain store pharmacies sell there own brand of prenatal vitamins, just read the ingredients list and watch expiration dates.
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