Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack

Description

Nutritional Support for Mum-to-be and Growing Baby

Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack has been carefully developed to provide important nutritional support for mum-to-be and her growing baby. Nutrition is of the upmost importance before and during pregnancy firstly to help improve chances of conception and secondly to support the overall health of mum and baby.
Why Folic Acid is Important during Pregnancy

Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack contains a selection of carefully selected vitamin and mineral supplements to aid in foetal development* and to maintain the ideal balance of nutrients for an expectant mother. It is ideal for taking when trying to conceive, and throughout pregnancy.

*Supplemental folic acid intake increases maternal folate status. Low maternal folate status is a risk factor in the development of neural tube defects in the developing foetus. The beneficial effect is obtained with a supplemental folic acid daily intake of 400 μg for at least one month before and up to three months after conception.

Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack contains an extremely effective form of folic acid. Conventional folic acid is synthetic and is used in many vitamin supplements. We use L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate (L-5-MTHF), which is the active form of folic acid and is found in nature. The “folic acid” found in food has to be digested to be absorbed, and then has to undergo several biochemical conversions in the body to become L-5-MTHF. By supplementing directly with L-5-MTHF (rather than synthetic folic acid), one can be assured of getting the benefits of folic acid, regardless of your ability to absorb or convert it to the active form.

What do the other supplements in the Pregnancy Pack do?

During pregnancy, it is normal for the mother to feel tired. The body has to work harder at functioning as it normally would, with the addition of a baby which every day gains weight and absorbs mum’s nutrients. Iron levels are commonly low, meaning low levels of red blood cells. B-Vitamins work within the body to help with the formation of red blood cells – helping to get oxygen around every part of the body so that is can function optimally, maintain normal metabolism, as well as to help generate energy. Pregnancy Pack contains B-Complex vitamins to help support energy levels and red blood cell formation of expectant mums.

Beta-Carotene coverts into Vitamin A within the body. It’s a fat-soluble vitamin stored in the liver that’s essential for baby’s foetal developing, including the development of the heart, lungs, kidneys, eyes, and bones as well as the circulatory, respiratory, and central nervous systems. To ensure baby is born with adequate levels of vitamin A, maternal intake is important. Vitamin A is also important for women who are about to give birth as it helps with postnatal tissue repair.

Simply, Vitamin C helps protect cells and keep them healthy. It helps the body fight infection and acts as an antioxidant, protecting cells from damage which is vital during pregnancy. As the body adapts to the baby, bones & organs shift as well as the skin stretches. Vitamin C is essential to help the body make collagen, the structural component of cartilage, tendons, bones, and skin to help keep joints strong and skin supple. It is also important for tissue repair, wound healing, bone growth and repair, and healthy skin. Vitamin C also helps the body better absorb iron, even from vegetarian sources, which is essential to help prevent anaemia, tiredness & fatigue.

Vitamin E is an essential vitamin that has been shown to be beneficial in improving skin’s moisture and elasticity which is important during pregnancy to allow skin to be supple in order to stretch ‘comfortably’.

Calcium and magnesium work in harmony in the human body. In muscle cells, calcium causes muscle fibres to contract, whereas magnesium counteracts this effect by causing the muscle fibres to relax. It is believed that adequate magnesium intake during pregnancy can help prevent the uterus from contracting prematurely. Magnesium & calcium also help build strong teeth and bones in the baby.

The body needs vitamin D to sustain optimum levels of calcium and phosphorus, which help build your baby’s bones and teeth. Unfortunately, Vitamin D deficiency is common during pregnancy which can result in abnormal bone growth, fractures, or rickets in newborns. This is why vitamin D is of the upmost importance during pregnancy. Mother’s intake during pregnancy helps prevent baby being vitamin deficient when born.

The Importance of Nutrition during Pregnancy

Pregnamax can be taken prior to conception to help build up nutrient stores in women trying to have a baby. It has been specially formulated by experts to help safeguard a mother’s diet during pregnancy, providing a range of essential nutrients at carefully chosen safe levels. Optimal nutrition is important to help prepare a woman’s body for the extra demands placed on it during pregnancy. Nutrients, like folic acid and vitamin B12 are vital from conception. Folic Acid is important to help prevent neural tube defects in a developing foetus whilst vitamin B12 helps red blood cell formation and helps generate cellular energy.

Nutrition is key throughout pregnancy. Pregnamax provides essential nutrients throughout pregnancy including folic acid which plays an important role during the full nine months and contributes to normal blood formation.

Eating a healthy balanced diet is the best way to ensure the body (and baby) is getting all the nutrients it needs. Nutrients are necessary to help the body function optimally, especially with the increasing demand. Eating healthily also helps reduce the risk of excessive weight gain during pregnancy which can also lead to health complications such as: diabetes (which can put mother at risk of having a larger baby which increases the risk of a difficult birth and the risk of miscarriage) and high blood pressure – which increases the risk of pre-eclampsia.

Being pregnant does not mean eating for two. The body becomes more efficient in absorbing more nutrients from foods consumed, so eating more than necessary does not increase the amount of nutrients absorbed – it just leads to weight gain which increases the risk of pregnancy complications.

Though guidelines vary, it is believed that if you’re a healthy weight, you need no additional calories in the first trimester, 340 extra calories a day in the second trimester, and about 450 extra calories a day in the third trimester. If you’re overweight or underweight, you’ll need more or less than this depending on your weight gain goal. Always consult your midwife or GP for your own personal guidance.

Experts now believe the baby suffers if the mother’s diet is lacking. Inadequate nutrition during pregnancy is believed to have lifelong effects on a baby’s health. Baby’s health and growth are directly related to what mum eats both before and during her pregnancy, hence the importance of nutrients, healthy eating and pregnancy supplements.

Features and Benefits – Why Take Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack

• Contains the ‘active’ form of folic acid (not synthetic form) guaranteeing efficacy & benefits
• Provides essential nutrients to support all round health before and during pregnancy
• Helps safeguard the diet of mum-to-be throughout pregnancy
• Helps support bone health of both mother and baby

Is Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack Right For Me?

Good nutrition is vital during pregnancy in order to help support the health of both mother and baby. The nutritional intake of the mother is of the upmost importance to the health & development of her baby as it is all absorbed by the growing foetus, which not only helps baby develop but also helps create baby’s own stores of nutrients once born. Pregnancy supplements can help safeguard a mother’s diet, so that if her diet ‘is’ nutritionally deficient somewhere, the supplement can help maintain optimal levels of the nutrient. This should help keep mum feeling healthy and give her peace of mind knowing she is doing best by her and her baby.

Pregnancy Nutritional Advice in the Press

These articles discuss some of the major nutrients required by the body to help support growth & development of baby as well as the health of mums-to-be. Read more to learn more about the importance of nutrients during pregnancy.

Health Article: Daily Mail: How to Eat Your Baby Healthy

Eating a healthy, balanced diet during pregnancy, helps your body cope with the demands of being pregnant and passes essential nutrients to your growing baby. But there are certain foods you can eat that can help shape your baby’s health for the rest of its life.

A new study published last week by the British Medical Journal shows the importance of eating a balanced meal. According to scientists from the University of Southampton and Finland’s National Public Health Institute, women who are short of nutrients when pregnant tend to produce underweight babies (less than five-and-a-half pounds). The study concluded that babies with low weight gain are more likely to develop diabetes and heart disease in later life.

Eating a balanced meal, says Rosemary Dodds of the National Childbirth Trust, means eating one-third of energy foods which includes pasta, potatoes, rice, yam, bread or cereals. One-third of your meal should also be made up from some of your daily five portions of fruit and veg. The final third, claim dieticians, should be divided into three unequal sections, with one much smaller than the other two. The larger amounts of this final section should be devoted to protein needed for growth and repair of our bodies and should include meat, fish, nuts and cooked beans – and dairy products. The smaller amount should be for fatty and sugary foods.

Recommended dose: Eat five portions of fresh vegetables and fruit each day. Aim for an average of six servings of starchy carbohydrates throughout the day. (One serving equals two slices of bread or two chapattis; a bowl of breakfast cereal; six tablespoons of boiled pasta; four tablespoons of rice; and two potatoes or yams.) Try to take adequate protein – two to three servings a day of lean meat, fish, beans, nuts or milk and milk-products such as cheese.

Nuts: New research shows that eating higher levels of vitamin E than normal when pregnant, can help protect your child from becoming sensitive to common allergies and asthma.

Vitamin E rich food includes green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and spinach, and nuts including pistachio, sesame and almonds.

A study carried out by researchers at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary tested blood from the umbilical cords of 223 new-born babies. The team found that while genetic history and maternal smoking were important factors, the mother’s diet also played a key part. The results showed that mothers with higher levels of vitamin E, had children with lower sensitivity to common allergy-producing substances, mites and grass pollen that are responsible for developing allergies and asthma.

Sam Church of the Food Standards Agency said the study was an interesting one, but it was too early to suggest that pregnant women should change their diet according to its findings. However, she confirmed the importance of diet during pregnancy.

Recommended dose: About five to ten milligrams each day. Around two portions of green leafy vegetables, an ounce of almonds, or one tablespoon of sesame or walnut oil.

Dairy products and breakfast cereals: Dieticians recommend that pregnant women eat more foods containing vitamin D than normal. This is because vitamin D helps our bodies absorb and process calcium – needed to make strong bones and teeth. Dairy products and cereals are a rich source of vitamin D, but sunshine can also trigger our bodies to make our own vitamin D, explains dietician Rosemary Dodds from the National Childbirth Trust. ‘Some British women may not build up adequate stores of vitamin D to meet the extra needs of pregnancy,’ says Dodds. ‘So you may need to up your intake of vitamin D.’

Recommended dose: The department of health recommends that pregnant and breastfeeding women take a supplement of 10 micrograms of vitamin D each day.

Dark green leafy vegetables and baked beans: The Government advises all pregnant women – or those planning to become pregnant – to take folic acid supplements while your baby is being formed. This is because our bodies need folic acid to make DNA – genetic information that controls the correct development and function of our cells. Not enough folic acid during the first three months of pregnancy can prevent your baby’s brain and spinal cord form developing sufficiently and can lead to spina bifida.

Dodds recommends eating extra portions of dark leaf vegetables at this time. Foods that are rich in folic acid include Brussel sprouts, spinach, broccoli, green beans, potatoes, backed beans, citrus fruit juices, cereals, bread, milk and yeast extract.

Other studies show that there is a link between a low intake of folic acid and high levels of homocysteine, an enzyme linked to metabolism. Scientists from Norway’s University of Bergen and America’s University of Washington showed that low levels of folic acid is linked to the production of homocysteine which can bring on pre-eclampsia – high blood pressure during pregnancy – which can trigger premature childbirth.

Recommended dose: The Government recommends 400 micrograms of folic acid each day. Much higher doses are given to women who have a baby with spinal defects.

Health Article: Daily Telegraph: Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy ‘almost doubles risk of MS in children’

A lack of the sunshine nutrient Vitamin D during early pregnancy can almost double the risk of multiple sclerosis in children.

High levels of the vitamin mainly made by the skin in reaction to sunlight has been linked with a decreased risk of MS in adulthood. But scientists have also suggested vitamin D exposure in the womb may be a risk factor for MS in later life.

A Harvard University study confirmed low levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) in early pregnancy were associated with the 90 per cent higher risk of MS in children.

Dr Kassandra Munger of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said: “While our results suggest that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy increases MS risk in the offspring, our study does not provide any information as to whether there is a dose-response effect with increasing levels of 25(OH)D sufficiency.

“Similar studies in populations with a wider distribution of 25(OH)D are needed.”

The study published by JAMA Neurology looked at 193 individuals, of which 163 were female, diagnosed with MS whose mothers were part of the Finnish Maternity Cohort.

Health Article: Daily Telegraph: Pregnant women should be given vitamin D supplements, researchers claim

Experts claim that women who do not have enough vitamin D can experience complications in pregnancy which could be life-threatening for a new-born. It could also lead to the development of diseases such as rickets and other deficiency linked conditions.

Dr Elina Hypponen, from the University College London Institute of Child Health, said that providing women with daily supplements would “reduce related serious risks to their babies”.

Her report in the British Journal of Nutrition called for a unified approach from health authorities towards supplements and said that vitamin D deficiency is “largely being overlooked by our health professionals”.

The Department of Health advises pregnant women to ensure they receive 10 micrograms per day of vitamin D, which the researchers claimed cannot be provided by diet and the sun alone.

Britain was the only one of 31 countries examined which did not recommend that women of reproductive age took a vitamin D supplement.

Dr Hypponen said: “The incidence of vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women in Britain is unacceptably high, especially during winter and spring.

“This is compounded by a lack of exposure to sunlight and the limitations of an average diet to meet the optimal need.

“In the most severe cases, maternal vitamin D deficiency can be life threatening to a newborn.

“We believe that the routine provision of a daily supplement throughout pregnancy would significantly decrease the number of mothers who are clearly vitamin D deficient, reducing related serious risks to their babies.”

She said past evidence showed that taking supplements coincided with a much lower incidence of diseases such as infantile hypocalcaemia, also known as William’s syndrome, which affects development, and rickets, which weakens bones.

The Science behind Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack

Each supplement in the Pregnancy Pack has been specifically chosen as a key nutrient to help support the health of both mother and baby. Below outlines a few studies depicting the health benefits and the importance of the nutrients within Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack.

Published in Archives of Disease in Childhood 1976, Smithells et al conducted a study titled ‘Vitamin deficiencies and neural tube defects’, during which they determined levels of serum folate, red cell folate, white blood cell vitamin C, riboflavin (vitamin B2) saturation index, and serum vitamin A during the first trimester of pregnancy in over 900 cases.

For each of these there was a social classes I + II showed the highest levels which differed significantly from other classes, except for serum folate.

In 6 mothers who gave birth to infants with neural tube defects, first trimester serum folate, red cell folate, white blood cell vitamin C, and riboflavin values were lower than in controls. In spite of small numbers the differences were significant for red cell folate and white blood cell vitamin C.

These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that nutritional deficiencies are significant in the causation of congenital defects of the neural tube in man.

Following on from this and the idea that social class played a role in NTD’s, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, 2010, Blencowe et al conducted a study titled ‘Folic acid to reduce neonatal mortality from neural tube disorders’. Their aim was to review the evidence for, and estimate the effect of, folic acid fortification/supplementation on neonatal mortality due to Neural Tube Defects (NTD’s), especially in low-income countries.

Meta-analysis of three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of folic acid supplementation for women with a previous pregnancy with NTD indicates a 70% reduction in recurrence (secondary prevention). For NTD primary prevention through folic acid supplementation suggested a reduction of 62%.

A meta-analysis of eight population-based observational studies examining folic acid food fortification gave an estimated reduction in NTD incidence of 46%. In low-income countries an estimated 29% of neonatal deaths related to visible congenital abnormalities are attributed to NTD.

Assuming that fortification reduces the incidence of NTDs, but does not alter severity or case-fatality rates, they estimated that folic acid fortification could prevent 13% of neonatal deaths currently attributed to congenital abnormalities in low-income countries.

They concluded that if folic acid food fortification achieved 100% population coverage the number of NTDs in low-income countries could be approximately halved, and that the evidence supports both folic acid supplementation and fortification as effective in reducing neonatal mortality from NTDs.

What Makes Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack Better than Other Pregnancy Supplements?

• Made from only pure ingredients.
• Contains the active form of Folic Acid, not synthetic, ensuring efficacy & benefits
• Capsule formulation easier to swallow.
• Higher strength than other leading high street outlets.
• Contains no: Gluten or Wheat, artificial preservatives or colourings.

EFSA APPROVED

• Folate contributes to maternal tissue growth during pregnancy
• Folate (Folic acid) can contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue
• Folate (Folic acid) contributes to normal blood formation
• Folate contributes to the normal function of the immune system
• Folate has a role in the process of cell division
• Magnesium helps reduce tiredness & fatigue
• Magnesium contributes to electrolyte balance and to normal functioning of the nervous system and normal protein synthesis
• Calcium and Magnesium contribute to normal muscle function
• Calcium and Magnesium contribute to normal metabolism
• Calcium and Magnesium contribute to the maintenance of normal bones and teeth
• Calcium contributes to normal blood clotting, normal neurotransmission and the normal function of digestive enzymes
• Calcium has a role in the process of cell division and specialisation
• Vitamin B6 & B12 can contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue
• Vitamin B6 & B12 contributes to normal red blood cell formation
• Vitamin B6 & B12 contributes to the normal function of the immune system
• Vitamin A contributes to the maintenance of normal skin and vision
• Vitamin A & D contributes to the normal function of the immune system
• Vitamin D contributes to normal absorption/utilisation of calcium and phosphorus
• Vitamin D contributes to the maintenance of normal bones, normal muscle function and normal teeth
• Vitamin C contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of blood vessels, cartilage, bones, gums, skin and teeth
• Vitamin C contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism, to normal functioning of the nervous system and to normal psychological function
• Vitamin C contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress, the reduction of tiredness & fatigue and to the regeneration of the reduced form of vitamin E
• Vitamin C increases iron absorption
• Zinc, Iron & Selenium contribute to the normal function of the immune system
• Zinc, Copper, Manganese & Selenium contribute to the protection of cells from oxidative stress
• Zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal bones, hair, skin, nails
• Zinc contributes to normal cognitive function and fertility & reproduction
• Iodine, zinc and iron contribute to normal cognitive function
• Iodine and copper support metabolism and the normal functioning of the nervous system
• Iron contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue, to normal formation of red blood cells and to normal oxygen transport in the body

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the regulatory body of the European Union that serves as an independent agency to review scientific research to provide advice and communication on nutritional ingredients.

EFSA approved products give legal clarity to nutritional ingredients and gives consumers’ confidence in claims being rigorously assessed and proved to have the stated effects.

Recommended by our health experts

Recommended by our health experts Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack has been developed by clinical healthcare experts. The ingredients have been carefully formulated with research to ensure they deliver results. Pregnamax Pregnancy Pack is also recommended by nutritionists.