Health Professional Information

Preconceptional, prenatal and postpartum vitamin supplementation is critical to pregnancy and breastfeeding. Therefore, as a health professional, you are in the best position to advise patients who are contemplating pregnancy, are pregnant or have just given birth, on the importance of multivitamin supplementation, according to their medical history, their specific state of health and their nutritional needs.

PregVit folic 5 is the first and only Canadian prenatal high dose folic acid multivitamin mineral supplement containing 5 mg of folic acid. PregVit folic 5 is formulated specifically for and should be prescribed to planning or pregnant women who:

• Have had a previous pregnancy affected by a neural tube defect (NTD): The risk of having another child with a NTD is 10–30 times greater than the general population.
• Have a family history of neural tube defects: Three-generations of family medical history of both the pregnant woman and the biological father could help to identify increased risk for NTD.
• Have diabetes: Women with insulin dependent diabetes should be advised that high dose folic acid (5.0 mg/day) supplementation is recommended.
• Have malabsorption disorders such as inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis). Women with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis may be folate deficient due to their disease and its treatment with certain medications such as sulfasalazine.
• Take folic acid antagonists (e.g. sulfasalazine or methotrexate).
• Are treated with anticonvulsant drugs (e.g. carbamazepine, valproic acid, phenytoin, sodium phenobarbital).

There is evidence that an increase of 0.4 mg/day of folic acid would reduce the risk of neural tube defects for all women planning a pregnancy by about 36%, 1.0 mg per day by 57% and the use of 5.0 mg daily of folic acid (as in PregVit folic 5), would reduce the risk of NTDs by about 85%.

	1 pink tablet in the morning	1 blue tablet in the evening
	Beta-Carotene Vitamin E Vitamin C Vitamin E1	Folic Acid Vitamin D3 Vitamin B12
Complete Information with active ingredients and contraindications Patents : Canada 2,478,163, U.S. D501,252 Evidence-based information

PregVit folic 5 is now covered by:

• Most private insurance plans

Why prescribe a prenatal high dose folic acid multivitamin-mineral supplement?