If you’re pregnant or planning to be, folic acid will top your list of nutritional priorities. But you’ll also need other vitamins and minerals to help keep pace with your growing baby’s needs.

If you’re planning a baby, you’ll know that folic acid can help prevent defects of the brain and spinal cord, known as neural tube defects.

But folic acid isn’t all that you and your baby will need. Almost all vitamins and minerals, including iron, calcium, zinc, magnesium and B-vitamins play a role in the ultimate health and wellbeing of your baby.

Getting these nutrients in the right combination, in the right amount, can help give your baby a healthier start to life.

WHAT ABOUT DIET?
Ideally you would get all the nutrients you need from a well-balanced diet, but lifestyle factors such as drinking coffee and alcohol, and the use of oral contraceptives can mean you’re short of recommended dietary intakes before falling pregnant.

And because it takes time to build up nutrient levels, you may need a pregnancy multivitamin to carry you through the planning and early stages of pregnancy, with the certainty you’re meeting your baby’s needs.

WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU NEED?
Some key vitamins and minerals recommended by the Ministry of Health include:

• Folic acid (800 mcg) – to help prevent neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, which occurs when the two sides of the baby’s spine fail to close properly.
  
• Iron – which helps carry oxygen in the blood, liver, muscles, tissues and cell enzymes.
• Calcium – to avoid neonatal hypocalcaemia.
• Zinc – to help prevent congenital abnormalities, low birthweight and impaired development.

Other key nutrients and recommended dietary intakes can be found in Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Healthy Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women: A background paper. Ministry of Health, 2006.

WHAT IS ELEVIT?
Elevit is the only pregnancy supplement clinically proven to reduce neural tube defects by 92%.

It contains 18 vitamins and minerals, including 800mcg of folic acid as recommended by the Ministry of Health.

It also includes 60mg of iron to prevent dietary iron deficiency, giving you and your baby a healthy advantage throughout pregnancy.

ELEVIT BENEFITS

• Clinically proven
• Reduces neural tube defects by 92%
• Once-a-day tablet
• Gluten-free
• New Zealand’s number one pregnancy supplement.

---

*Data available upon request. Elevit tablets are a pharmacy medicine. Supplementary to and not a replacement for a balanced diet. Medicines have benefits and some may have risks. Always read the label and use strictly as directed. Consult your pharmacist to see if Elevit is right for you. If you have side-effects, see your healthcare professional. Visit www.medsafe.govt.nz for Elevit consumer medicine information. Bayer New Zealand Ltd, Auckland. TAPS NA303

Top of page Print this page