Ritual Announces Completion of Study on Prenatal Supplement

Supplement company Ritual has announced the completion of a clinical study investigating the efficacy of its Essential for Women Prenatal multivitamin in improving the nutrient statuses of pregnant mothers.

The study, which recruited 70 pregnant women at gestational week 12-14, and randomly assigned them to receive either Ritual’s prenatal supplement or a competing product for 24 weeks. The key differences between the two products are whether they include folate as 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate (Ritual’s ingredient) or folic acid, as well as the dosages of vitamin D, biotin, and DHA.

The study analyzed maternal blood concentrations of nutrients, along with the nutrient content of placental tissue and umbilical cord blood. According to the findings, which are not yet published, Ritual’s prenatal supported adequate folate levels more efficiently than the competing prenatal product, with less unmetabolized folic acid. The mothers who took Ritual’s prenatal also had significantly lower cortisol levels at both week 12 and week 24 compared to the competing product. Additionally, mothers who took Ritual’s prenatal had greater concentrations of P1NP in the umbilical cord, which is associated with better fetal bone formation. According to the company, mothers who took Ritual reported that the supplement was easier to swallow, gentler on the stomach, and better overall compared to the competing product.

Ritual partnered with Cornell and CUNY in Brooklyn to make participant diversity a non-negotiable; 66% of participants identified as Black, Asian, or other non-white backgrounds. Ritual is investing $5 million to clinically study its full portfolio of products, to provide a greater standard of transparency in women’s health, with the goal of inclusive, rigorous research on finished women’s health products to become the standard, rather than the exception, the company stated.

Most prenatal vitamins on the market have not been clinically studied as finished products, and, more broadly, there is a historical under-investment in women’s health research; until 1993, pregnant women were banned from clinical studies in the United States.