An interventional study of Ritual Epre Multivitamin-mineral supplement and control MVI in Pregnancy Related and Nutrition, Healthy, sponsored by City University of New York. Completed at 2 sites in United States. Open to female participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-19.
Sponsored by City University of New York · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
Prenatal multivitamin/multimineral supplements (MVI) provide important nutrition supplement to the diet of pregnant women to cover potential deficiencies and optimize nutrition status of both mom and baby, especially when the diet is suboptimal or nutrient demand is high while absorption is hindered by various factors such as genetic variance and gastrointestinal function. In this double-blind, randomized, controlled trial, the investigators will recruit 70 pregnant women at gestational week 12-14 and randomly assign them to either receive a Ritual prenatal MVI (n=40) or another commercially available prenatal MVI (n=40) through out pregnancy. Both supplements are over the counter and commercially available. The major differences between the two MVIs are the chemical form of folate as either 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate or folic acid, and the dosages of vitamin D, biotin, and docosahexaenoic acid. The investigators will collect blood samples in each trimester of pregnancy and the placenta and cord blood at delivery to assess differences in blood nutrient levels. The investigators hypothesize that consumption of Ritual MVI leads to better nutrition status and biomarkers in maternal-fetal dyads compared to control during the antepartum period.
City University of New York is the lead sponsor of 12 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Pregnant women are qualified to participate if they are over 18 years of age, having singleton pregnancy, and without any of the conditions listed in the exclusion criteria.
Exclusion Criteria:
This group will receive 2 Ritual Epre multivitamin-mineral supplement pills daily.
Dietary Supplement: Ritual Epre Multivitamin-mineral supplement
For the prenatal arm, this group will receive a control multivitamin-mineral supplement pill and a 200 mg docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) pill that are commercially available.
Dietary Supplement: control MVI
The Ritual Epre supplement uses methyl folate instead of folic acid and has higher vitamin D and biotin contents compared to the control supplement.
The control MVI supplement is a commercially available product from another brand. Since this MVI doesn't contain DHA, a pill of DHA will also be provided to participants in this group.
Folate status
The investigators hypothesize that the group that consumes Ritual would have less unmetabolized folic acid in the blood than the control group. A greater proportion of participants would have supranutritional levels of folate (\> 20 ng/mL serum folate) in the control versus Ritual group.
Time frame: after 24 weeks of intervention
Biotin status
The investigators hypothesize that the group that consumes Ritual would have higher levels of biotin and lower levels of 3-HIA and 3-HIA-carnitine in the maternal and cord blood than the control group.
Time frame: after 24 weeks of intervention
vitamin D status
The investigators hypothesize that the group that consumes Ritual would have higher levels of vitamin D metabolites in the maternal and cord blood than the control group.
Time frame: after 24 weeks of intervention
placental functional gene expression regulation
The investigators hypothesize that the group that consumes Ritual would have higher expression of vitamin D response genes and lower expression of inflammatory and stress genes.
Time frame: after 24 weeks of intervention
Plan to share: No
Ran from Oct 2023 to primary completion in Dec 2024, 14 months.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is completed, as verified in May 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
City University of New York