Advancing the Science of Prenatal Dietary Supplements

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Topic Description

Post Date: May 21, 2026

Expiration Date: May 21, 2028

Background 

Many pregnant women fall short of recommended intakes for essential nutrients, while others exceed safe levels due to widely varying supplement formulations. Current nutrient recommendations and biomarkers often rely on data from nonpregnant populations. On June 30—July1, 2025 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) held a Prenatal Dietary Supplements workshop that highlighted the urgent need for pregnancy-specific evidence and research opportunities that investigators can pursue to generate near-term impact.

Goal 

To catalyze research that generates the evidence needed to define pregnancy-specific nutrient requirements, strengthen biomarker science, and improve the formulation of prenatal supplements.  By evaluating nutrient effects across pregnancy and early life it will produce timely findings that can inform maternal–child health practice and improve outcomes for pregnant women and their children. 

Priority Research Areas 

1. Evidence to Inform Pregnancy-Specific Nutrient Requirements & Biomarkers 

  • Conduct dose–response, pharmacokinetic, and short controlled feeding studies.
  • Apply stable isotope methods, metabolomics, and emerging biomarker technologies.
  • Analyze stored maternal and cord blood samples from existing cohorts (e.g., Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO), Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-to-Be, Viva) to evaluate nutrient status and potential adequacy thresholds.
  • Use existing and new randomized trial datasets to examine trimester-specific nutrient dynamics, metabolism, and physiological requirements. 

2. Advancing Prenatal Supplement Formulation & Bioavailability Science 

  • Conduct nutrient stability, dissolution, and degradation testing.
  • Use in vitro bioaccessibility models to assess nutrient release, interactions, and absorption across common matrices.
  • Explore alternative delivery formats (e.g., encapsulation, emulsions, powders, liquids) in feasibility studies to test acceptability, adherence, and bioavailability—especially for choline, iodine, DHA, and iron.
  • Use patient-reported concerns and publicly available safety data to prioritize formulation challenges. 

3. Evaluating Maternal–Child Outcomes 

  • Conduct secondary analyses in ongoing cohorts linking nutrient intake, biomarkers, and maternal–child outcomes.
  • Integrate micronutrient intake questions, supplement logs, or biomarker assessments into active pregnancy studies with minimal participant burden.
  • Launch small pilot or adaptive clinical trials on nutrients with limited evidence (e.g., choline, iodine, DHA, vitamin D, B12) using existing infrastructure and recruitment pathways.
  • Leverage datasets to assess nutrient associations with placental biology, fetal growth, preterm birth, metabolic programming, and early neurodevelopment. 
This topic is being issued as part of the Make America Healthy Again initiative, which is expanding NIH and agency research into specific areas.

It aligns with:

  • NIH MAHA Chronic Disease Initiative : The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will launch an Initiative on Chronic Disease to leverage and align existing NIH research projects, improve NIH coordination on chronic disease research, and generate actionable results for diseases arising in childhood and adulthood.

Central Scientific Contact:
Jaime Gahche, PhD
[email protected]

Participating ICOs

Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS)

The ODS seeks to advance research that strengthens the evidence base for pregnancy-specific nutrient needs, improves supplement formulation science, and evaluates nutrient effects across key reproductive periods. This work will help accelerate efforts to build the scientific foundation to modernize prenatal nutrition and ensure pregnant women have access to safe, effective, evidence-based supplementation. 

IC may give special consideration to support meritorious applications in this topic area.
This office does not award grants. Applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating Institutes or Centers listed in this topic.
ICO Scientific Contact:
Jaime Gahche, PhD
[email protected]

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is interested in supporting nutrient-related research on the etiology and treatment of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).  Priority areas include:

  • Explore how micronutrient deficiencies contribute to FASD.
  • Expand evidence on choline supplementation during pregnancy and whether it improves developmental outcomes in children prenatally exposed to alcohol.
  • Explore benefits of nutrient-based interventions (e.g. iron, zinc, omega-3/DHA, folate, vitamin A, B12, amino acids, and antioxidant-related compounds), alone or in combination, to lessen the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in well-powered randomized clinical trials in pregnancy.
  • Evaluate if nutrition-based changes to the microbiome can reduce the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on child brain development.
  • Understand how prenatal alcohol affects maternal nutrition and maternal-fetal metabolism.
IC may give special consideration to support meritorious applications in this topic area.
ICO Scientific Contact:
William Dunty, Ph.D.
[email protected]

Tatiana Balachova, Ph.D.
[email protected]

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)

For this topic, NIDCR is interested in supporting research on effects of micronutrients and dietary supplements in the context of development of the craniofacial complex including mineralized tissues (bones, tooth structures), soft tissues (muscles, lip, palate, tongue, salivary glands), and interfacing structures (cranial sutures, periodontal ligament, temporomandibular joint disorder disc). Per the Institutes strategic priorities, research objectives include:

  • Observational and mechanistic studies elucidating pregnancy-specific nutrient requirements and the dental, oral, and craniofacial development of their children
  • Elucidating the impact on genetic, epigenetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms that drive the normal development of dental, oral, and craniofacial tissues
  • Insights towards prevention of and/or non-surgical interventions to treat the numerous congenital craniofacial malformations
IC may give special consideration to support meritorious applications in this topic area.
ICO Scientific Contact:
Margaret Grisius, DDS
[email protected]

Zubaida Saifudeen, PhD
[email protected]

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
  • Explore interactions between environmental chemicals and prenatal supplements in biological matrices to assess changes in bioavailability, metabolism, and absorption.
  • Examine interactions between environmental exposures and prenatal supplements in the context of maternal-child health (including, placental biology, fetal growth, preterm birth, metabolic programming, and early neurodevelopment).
  • Identify prenatal supplement contaminants of particular concern during pregnancy and interrogate their effects on maternal-child health.
  • Conduct secondary analyses in ongoing cohorts linking environmental exposure data with dietary supplement data (e.g., intake, uptake, biomarkers) and maternal–child outcomes data.
  • Determine if prenatal supplementation mitigates or protects against harmful effects of environmental exposures across the lifespan.
IC may give special consideration to support meritorious applications in this topic area.
ICO Scientific Contact:
Dr. Thaddeus Schug
[email protected]

Dr. Abee Boyles
[email protected]

Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)

OBSSR is interested in behavioral and social science aspects of defining pregnancy-specific nutrient requirements, strengthening biomarker science, and evaluating nutrient effects across pregnancy and early life. 

This office does not award grants. Applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating Institutes or Centers listed in this topic.
ICO Scientific Contact:
Jessica Gowda
[email protected]

Office of Disease Prevention (ODP)

For this topic, ODP is particularly interested in projects that test the effects of dietary supplements intake during pregnancy on maternal and child health outcomes, including the prevention or reduction of pre-eclampsia, anemia, gestational diabetes, pre-term birth, and childhood obesity, as well as the promotion of neurodevelopment, bone health, and immune function.  

IC may give special consideration to support meritorious applications in this topic area.
This office does not award grants. Applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating Institutes or Centers listed in this topic.
ICO Scientific Contact:
Bramaramba Kowtha MS, RDN, LDN
[email protected]

Office of Nutrition Research (ONR)

ONR is interested in advancing innovative research on the science of prenatal dietary supplements to address the complexities of nutrition, its biology, and its critical role in health throughout the lifespan. Specific to this highlighted topic, ONR is interested in applications that:

  • Improve the precision (measurement, interpretation, and attribution) of assessment of nutritional status as a biological variable. 
  • Explore the reciprocal relationships among nutritional status and the processes necessary to achieve that status (i.e., digestion, absorption, metabolism, integration into relevant biological systems, homeostatic control).
  • Enhance our understanding of the function of single and multiple nutrients and other bioactive components of food within biological systems of interest (e.g., immunocompetence, neurobiology, and metabolism).
  • Explore the relationships among nutrients and other bioactive components of food on pregnancies, maternal health, and child health. 
This office does not award grants. Applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating Institutes or Centers listed in this topic.
ICO Scientific Contact:
Nicholas Jury
[email protected]

Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH)

ORWH seeks projects that define pregnancy-specific nutrient requirements, identify and validate relevant biomarkers, and optimize prenatal supplement formulations.  Aligning with NIH priorities advancing population health, ORWH will consider co-funding projects that build the evidence base to modernize prenatal nutrition, advance maternal and child health, and improve pregnancy outcomes.   

Of interest: 

  • Optimizing prenatal nutrients to improve women’s health during pregnancy and the postpartum period, including long-term cardiometabolic, mental, and reproductive health outcomes.   
  • Evaluating pregnancy outcomes with a dual focus on women’s health and fetal/infant nutrition and development, to generate evidence that supports healthier trajectories across the life course for both the mother and child. 
This office does not award grants. Applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating Institutes or Centers listed in this topic.
ICO Scientific Contact:
Annina Burns, Ph.D., RDN
[email protected]

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