SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL FOR GAO-24-106689: Testing Results for Selected Prenatal Supplements
Fast Facts
Unlike medications, dietary supplements—including those for prenatal care—don't have to be evaluated for safety or effectiveness by the Food and Drug Administration before reaching stores.
We reported on whether labels for over-the-counter prenatal supplements reflect the actual amounts of vitamins and minerals in them. We tested for the amounts of 6 nutrients—folic acid, iodine, iron, and vitamins A, C and E—in 12 selected prenatal supplements. 11 of the prenatal supplements had at least one nutrient above or below the levels noted on labels.
This supplemental material for our report contains the full results of our laboratory testing.
Highlights
This supplemental material is a companion to GAO's report entitled, Prenatal Supplements: Amounts of Some Key Nutrients Differed from Product Labels, GAO-24-106689. For this report, GAO contracted with an accredited laboratory to test 12 prenatal supplements for the amounts of certain nutrients and heavy metal contaminants. The purpose is to provide the detailed laboratory testing results for the 12 prenatal supplements. The supplemental material includes graphical representations of the measured amount of each tested nutrient relative to the amount of that nutrient stated on the label—called the "percent of the label amount." The graphs show these values for each tested nutrient across all tested samples of the selected prenatal supplements described GAO's full report. This supplemental material also includes a table of laboratory testing results for all samples in which heavy metal contaminants were found. For the unprocessed laboratory testing data underlying the analysis, please see the CSV file available on this supplemental material's homepage.
For more information, contact Karen L. Howard at 202-512-6888 or HowardK@gao.gov.