Vitamins/Herbs Question

Ever since I discovered Adelle Davis early in my first pregnancy, I have been a
big believer in vitamin supplementation during pregnancy above and beyond the
traditional prenatal. So this time around I did a little investigating and
decided to get a really good multi-vitamin from Puritan's Pride (that had way
more of most things than the prenatals had) and then supplement that as needed
to reach the prenatal levels of the ingredients it lacked. It worked out
cheaper that way than the other way around.

Well, the vitamins arrived and on the back it says Not for use by pregnant or
lactating women. Most of their products say Ask your doctor, not Do not use.
So I haven't taken them yet, but I'm trying to puzzle out what could be
dangerous about them.

I've looked up all the unfamiliar ingredients online and haven't found that any
of them are contraindicated during pregnancy. The things that were listed with
which I am unfamiliar were Rutin, Royal Jelly, Bee propolis, Octacosanol, and
Eleuthero.

I'm not going to take up bandwidth listing every ingredient, but if anyone is
interested or is knowledgeable about this topic, you can go to
www.puritanspride.com and search for Ultra Vita-Min. There's a PDF there with
all the ingredients and amounts.

I wondered if maybe it was more the ABSENCE of something (namely iron) that
made them put the disclaimer? But I'm taking that separately at night because
you are supposed to take Vitamin E and iron 12 hours apart.

Thoughts, anyone?

Leslie

On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 00:45:21 +0000, Leslie wrote:

So I haven't taken them yet, but I'm trying to puzzle out what could be
dangerous about them.

AFAIK they have to put this on the label if the vitamins have not been
tested for adverse effects in pregnant women. It doesn't mean they
actually are dangerous, but they could be, nobody knows for sure. So if
you take them, it's at your own risk.

FWIW: it says 'not for pregnant women' on most homeopathic medicine as
well for that reason, but my homeopathic doctor has assured me that any
these are perfectly safe. And that makes sense, as there is probably about
one essential atom in a teaspoon of it (or less).

--
-- I
mommy to DS (20m)
mommy to two tiny angels (28 Oct 2003 & 17 Feb 2004)
guardian of DH (33)