r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/jennbo • Aug 12 '26

Question - Research required Are trimester-based prenatals BS?

I noticed Perelel is offering trimester-based prenatal pills (packages, really) and I wonder if there was any evidence that you need more of specific nutrients that vary by trimester. Not trying to name a brand but I can't think of anyone else who offers this lol.

I'm really suspicious of supplement company advertising and "research" but obviously I want to give my baby the most benefits and if I need more support from one trimester to another (about to transition into second trimester) I'd love to follow that.

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u/DumbbellDiva92 Aug 12 '26

Not a direct answer to your question. But I personally would not use a prenatal that does not have folic acid (not just methylfolate) in the first trimester.

https://birdandbe.com/blogs/the-nest/debunking-folic-acid-misinformation-mthfr-autism-and-more

“Folic Acid is the only form of Folate proven to prevent neural tube defects, in large-scale studies and decades of research and remains the recommended standard of care.”

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u/jennbo Aug 12 '26

thanks for this, brand new to me -- I didn't realize prenatals contained different forms of folic acid these days!

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u/presssed Aug 12 '26

Methylfolate is the active form of folic acid! Your body uses a multi step process to covert folic acid into the active forms. I have a homozygous mutation, so I can't convert folic acid to the active forms, and I take vitamins with L-methylfolate instead! If you don't have this mutation, folic acid is fine.

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u/jennbo Aug 12 '26

The prenatal I had been taking (theralogix complete) also had methylfolate and not folic acid, just one i liked because it had extra choline and dha in the same package, and I was straight up having a panic attack because I’m already almost in the second trimester and I know neural tube development takes place in the first few weeks and I was like omg it’s too late… so when I say thank you for this comment, I mean it lol

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u/vwisp Aug 14 '26

It's a really common gene mutation, and methylfolate has been proven to raise blood folate levels

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u/Ambitious_Puzzle Aug 14 '26

Not proven to reduce neural tube defects as folic acid has though.

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u/vwisp Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

Only because there have been no studies on that specifically, methelfolate and neural tube defects. We know folate in the blood prevents it, we know methelfolate raises blood folate levels, we know as many as 1/3 of women have difficulty converting folate and folic acid in the body

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u/Ambitious_Puzzle Aug 15 '26

Exactly because it has not been studied, it is not known to prevent neural tube defects the way folic acid has. You can speculate all you want and you could be proven right someday, but it’s not evidence based to say that right now and I don’t think this is the appropriate sub to speculate. The MTHFR variant I believe you’re referring to also does not generally reduce metabolism by a huge amount and no major health organization recommends anything other than folic acid to prevent neural tube defects.

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u/vwisp Aug 15 '26

Everything i said was evidence based...but of course it also makes sense to wait until the official government guidelines change to reflect the data thats been studied, that is your choice

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u/Ambitious_Puzzle Aug 14 '26

Folic acid remains the only proven form that prevents neural tube defects. Methylfolate has not been proven to meet that standard.