Good or Bad For Me?

Prenatal Vitamins

In every one of the classes I teach about nutrition, I reiterate the fact that mothers of young children have the power to change the world!
In a job that often feels thankless and tedious, young moms can train the eating habits and palates of the next generation so that these children will have the health and strength to continue to turn around a world full of processed, fake food products that bring disease and disorders.  And it starts in the womb!
Doctors and other medical practitioners often prescribe prenatal vitamins to pregnant or lactating women.  In an email I received from a reader, she detailed the “other ingredients” the foul-smelling prenatals she was prescribed contain:
hypromellose, beeswax, pyridoxine HCl, zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, pantothenate, microcrystalline cellulose, cubric oxide, thiamin mononitrate, dibasic caldium phosphate, titanium dioxide, FD and C Red #40, shellac, and cyanocobalamin.
Zinc oxide? They put it in paint, batteries, batteries, and plastics, because it’s insoluble in water. Shellac? That’s paint/glue!  Titanium dioxide has been classified as a carcinogen if you breathe it, proven to cause lung cancer in rats. Perhaps eating it isn’t a good idea!
Red dye #40? Pull up the Materials Safety and Data Sheet on it. This is just part of what it says: “Harmful if swallowed, symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, pain and diarrhea. May cause central nervous system depression; liver and kidney damage based on animal data. Use of this product may aggravate preexisting skin, eye, and respiratory disorders including asthma and dermatitis. Causes skin and eye irritation: symptoms may include pain, redness, and swelling.”
I am so frustrated by medical doctors telling people to eat those synthetic pills. At a minimum, please don’t take the iron pills they sell in pharmacies. That form of iron is not usable by the body, and it will make you constipated.
Food is the best prenatal. All of the nutrients that are found, in synthetic form, in those pills, are found in natural form your body can use in greens, vegetables, and fruits. Also seeds, nuts, legumes, and whole grains (especially sprouted).
If you must take a vitamin (probably a good idea to avoid falling below minimum thresholds, if you’re eating the S.A.D.), at least get a brand at your health food store, not in the pharmacy.