Being in your best health if you’re looking to conceive is important for fertility, but also to prepare your body for the physiological challenge of pregnancy – and nutrition is a key part of this. Awareness of the link between diet and fertility even goes back to the time of Hippocrates, who recognised the importance of special diets for both men and women to optimise their fertility.
Nowadays, studies suggest that you should look to prepare your body for pregnancy around three months before conception. Supplements can be a useful way to ensure that women (and men) are physically ready for conception.
Read on below for the most important prenatal nutrients – but remember to check that whichever supplements you’re taking do not contain high amounts of vitamin A, as too much can lead to birth defects and increased risk of miscarriage. Vitamin A is needed for normal reproduction, but most people will receive enough vitamin A from their diet alone.
Best prenatal vitamins and supplements at a glance
- Best prenatal supplement for a wide range of nutrients: Artah Enhance Fertility, £36
- Best prenatal supplement for pregnancy and breastfeeding: Purolabs Pregnancy Complex, £31.99
- Best prenatal supplement for meeting nutrient reference value: Vitl Female Fertility, £19.95
- Best prenatal supplement for hormonal support: MyOva Preconception, £36
- Best prenatal supplement for vegans: Cytoplan Pregna-Plan, £18.89
- Best prenatal supplement for cost effectiveness: Solgar Prenatal Nutrients, £16.13
- Best prenatal supplement for fertility-specific nutrients: Ovum Time to Conceive, £44
- Runner-up prenatal supplement for fertility-specific nutrients: Ova Her, £19.99
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Best prenatal vitamins and supplements 2026
Artah enhanced fertility
Available from Healf (£28.99), Artah (£36), Boots (£36)
Best prenatal supplements for a wide range of nutrients
Star rating: 4.5/5
Price per day (recommended dose): £1.20
A useful combination of a wide range of vitamins, minerals plus phytonutrients.
It has a high price tag, but the high content of vitamin B12 (6,000% NRV) and vitamin D, plus added inositol, CoQ10 and extra antioxidants could be beneficial when trying to conceive. The supplement can be used throughout pregnancy and is formulated by a US dietitian to optimise hormonal health, foetal development and maternal wellbeing.
Three daily capsules is a lot if you find it hard to swallow tablets.
Available from:
Purolabs Pregnancy Complex
Available from Purolabs (£31.99)
Best prenatal supplement for pregnancy and breastfeeding
Star rating: 4.5/5
Price per day (recommended dose): £1.06
Contains 28 natural ingredients, including a good range of essential nutrients, with 200% NRV for folic acid and vitamin D, and no very high doses of any nutrients. Additional ingredients include CoQ10, inositol and VitaCholine, although calcium and iodine come in below the NRV. Our tester found them easy to swallow and liked the slim bottle.
Also contains probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus to support a healthy gut microbiome, and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Available from:
Vitl Female Fertility
Available from Amazon (£10.86), Vitl (£19.95)
Best prenatal supplement for meeting NRVs
Star rating: 4.5/5
Price per day (recommended dose): 57p
This mid-price product has no bonus ingredients but it ticks the boxes for the basics and includes folic acid, vitamin D and iodine. There are 17 essential nutrients with all of the key nutrients providing at least 100% NRV (except magnesium at 32%) and no bulking agents. This supplement aims to prepare the body for a healthy conception and claims to aid hormonal balance.
It’s suitable for vegans as it contains no animal-derived vitamin D.
One coated tablet per day, but our tester found it to have a strong smell.
Available from:
MyOva Preconception
Available from MyOva (£36), Boots (£36), Amazon (£32.40)
Best prenatal supplement for hormonal support
Star rating: 4/5
Price per day (recommended dose): £1.20
One of the pricier options but it has a high content of myoinositol and vitamin B6, which might support those with irregular hormonal cycles. It’s suitable for women with PCOS and can be used throughout pregnancy.
The tablets are larger than standard and contain some glazing and anti-caking agents. Our tester found taking four large tablets a day quite unpleasant.
Available from:
Cytoplan Pregna-Plan
Available from Cytoplan (£18.89), Bodykind (£20.99)
Best prenatal supplement for vegans
Star rating: 4/5
Price per day (recommended dose): 61p
Cytoplan’s supplement contains a wide spectrum of essential nutrients for prenatal and throughout pregnancy. It contains a very high amount of vitamin B12, which is of key importance to vegans. At 10,000% NRV it’s probably far higher than most people need, but as it’s a water-soluble vitamin, such a high dose is not considered harmful.
This supplement has added phytonutrients, which may have antioxidant activity, reducing oxidative damage to cells, and also contains ginger, which studies have shown to have some benefit in managing nausea in pregnancy. Natural plant extracts such as kelp and marigold provide additional nutrients. It also contains an anti-caking agent and bulking agents.
Two large tablets per day, but our tester found them manageable.
Available from:
Solgar Prenatal Nutrients
Available from Amazon (£16.13)
Best prenatal supplement for cost effectiveness
Star rating: 4/5
Price per day (recommended dose): 38p
The cheapest of the supplements we tested, but with 20 pregnancy-supportive nutrients including folic acid and vitamin D, plus added inositol and choline, this offers a solid nutrient range. The supplement claims to be specially formulated for the needs of pregnant and lactating women, however there was only 50% NRV iodine, a nutrient which is of concern during pregnancy.
It’s suitable for vegans but contains soya-derived amino acids so may not be suitable for those with a soya allergy. It also contains bulking and anti-caking agents; two large tablets to be taken daily.
Available from:
Ovum Time to Conceive
Available from Ovum (£44)
Best for fertility-specific nutrients
Star rating: 4/5
Price per day (recommended dose): £1.47
This was the most expensive supplement we tested, with three large tablets needing to be taken every day – a bit of a challenge for our tester.
The manufacturers claim that Ovum has been developed in collaboration with fertility doctors and backed by over 550 clinical studies. It contains 2,000% NRV of vitamin D, as well as added CoEnzyme Q10 and folate in a highly bioavailable form (methylfolate). It also contains antioxidants and a small range of other nutrients that have potential roles in supporting healthy fertility and the early stages of conception.
Available from:
Ova Her
Available from Ova (£19.99), Boots (£19.99)
Runner-up for fertility-specific nutrients
Star rating: 3.5/5
Price per day (recommended dose): 72p
This supplement contains 26 ‘transformational nutrients’ and has a high content of vitamin D and vitamin B12 (6,000% NRV), but only 6% NRV for calcium, which is very low for breastfeeding. Ova Her is designed to be taken in the three months leading up to trying to conceive and throughout pregnancy as well as postnatally. This supplement contains some vitamin A, which is generally not advised during pregnancy, although a note on the Ova website addresses this issue, stating that the amount is well within safety guidelines.
Choline is also included. While it has been recognised as supporting brain function, it is unclear how this might be of use prenatally.
Our tester found the capsules to have a strong taste and smell, which may be off-putting during early pregnancy.
Available from:
What are prenatal vitamins?
While there is currently no specific recommendation for the amounts of nutrients which will promote fertility, levels of some vitamins and minerals have been shown to be important in healthy conception. Some studies have shown that antioxidant nutrients including vitamins C and E, folate and zinc have a beneficial effect on fertility for both men and women, while the Mediterranean diet is often recommended as a way to achieve nutrient targets in readiness for conception and a healthy pregnancy.
All people planning a pregnancy are advised to take a supplement containing 400 micrograms (mcg or µg) of folic acid (also known as vitamin B9) every day up to the 12th week of pregnancy. Some people may need a higher dose of 5mg if they have been affected by neural tube defects, but this needs to be discussed with your GP. In addition, studies suggest that iodine and vitamin D should also be taken – in fact, all adults should take a 10mcg vitamin D supplement between October and March when synthesis of vitamin D on the skin is insufficient. Other useful nutrients to look for in a prenatal supplement are:
- Omega-3 (350mg EPA and DHA): improves egg quality and implantation
- Iron (14.8mg): essential for healthy menstruation and regular ovulation
- Zinc (8mg): important for healthy ovulation and early development of the embryo
- Iodine (150mcg): needed for healthy menstruation and egg maturation
- Vitamin B12 (1.5mcg): important for implantation and maintaining a healthy pregnancy
In addition to these nutrients, emerging evidence suggests that there may be a role for other compounds to support healthy conception, including CoEnzymeQ10, and inositol, although more research is needed.
As previously mentioned, it’s also important to check that prenatal supplements do not contain high amounts of vitamin A, as too much can lead to birth defects and increased risk of miscarriage.
Find out more about key prenatal nutrients:
When should you start taking prenatal vitamins and supplements?
It is recommended that both partners prepare for conception from 3 months before trying to conceive so that the egg and sperm can be in optimal condition for fertilisation. This is because it takes around 90-100 days for an egg to mature, and similarly 2-3 months for sperm to mature. A healthy balanced diet during this time is also of key importance, but supplements can help to reduce the risk of nutrient gaps and deficiencies.
Most of the supplements formulated for use prenatally are safe to continue throughout pregnancy, and certainly for the first few weeks you might not even know you are pregnant. However, it is worth investigating whether a pregnancy-specific supplement might be a more economical option. See our tried and tested review of pregnancy supplements for more information.
What we looked for in prenatal vitamins and supplements
All supplements were tested within the same time period, with observations recorded based on the testing criteria. We included samples from various manufacturers, with a range of price points to suit different budgets. The key areas we assessed were:
- Taste and flavour: is the consuming experience pleasant?
- Nutrient profile: which nutrients are included? And at what levels? How does this compare to the NRV?
- Additives: does the supplement contain additives, for example: preservatives, artificial sweeteners or colourings?
- Dietary requirements: does the product meet any specific dietary needs – is it vegetarian, vegan?
- Value for money: how does it compare to other products on a cost-per-day basis?
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