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Comment by csulmone | Hacker News Reader

Please don't say vitamin supplements are optional. Folic acid for expectant mothers and vitamin D supplements for infants are absolutely recommended by pediatricians.

https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages...

https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-ini...

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Folic acid is added to bread and cereal these days in pretty big amounts (most cereal bowls will have 100% of the daily dose 400mcg and fortified foods like bread or pasta also would have 100% or close to it per serving) and any baby formula has more than enough vitamin d and other vitamins in it.

Edit: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Folate-HealthProfessional/...

In the US and the rest of the developed world pretty much most grain products are fortified with Folic Acid (as well as other vitamins) these days and have been for about 20 years.

While this is true, infants do not eat grains and many are breastfed almost exclusively especially if money is an issue. A $5 bottle of D3 vitamin drops to supplement breastmilk for months is much cheaper than buying formula.

Infants get it through formula and breast milk, the mother gets the folic acid via grains.

Outside of some edge cases vitamin supplements aren't really needed just talk to your doctor.

Human breast milk is a poor source of vitamin D, that's why it is recommended as a supplement.

The folic acid in fortified food is simply not sufficient to reduce the risk low enough of these serious neurological birth defects.

https://www.webmd.com/baby/folic-acid-and-pregnancy#1

We have been fortifying food as a response to the fact that pregnant women aren't uniformly getting enough folic acid. Downplaying prenatal folic acid supplements is like saying we don't need to worry about driving safely because people have added seat belts to cars. (One could imagine safety equipment that is so good we don't need to worry about how well we drive, but we're not there yet.)

I guess I interpreted that remark differently. Prenatal vitamins are great, but is amazing how easy it is for them to sell some amazingly expensive prescription vitamins when really cheap (and good) options are available.

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