Multivitamin and mineral supplements in pregnancy are unnecessary expense, review finds

Expensive multivitamin and mineral supplements targeted at pregnant women are a waste of money and do not result in better outcomes for mother or baby, an evidence review has concluded. Women should instead focus on improving their overall diet and taking folic acid and vitamin D supplements, both of which are relatively cheap, it said.

Many multivitamin and mineral supplements are heavily marketed to women at all stages of pregnancy to guard against a range of problems that can result from nutritional deficiency, including pre-eclampsia, restricted fetal growth, neural tube defects, skeletal …