Designed to ensure comfort and optimize nutrition for women and their babies
SAN ANTONIO, TX (December 8, 2008) – Mission Pharmacal today announced the addition of CitraNatal® Assure to its CitraNatal® family of prescription prenatal vitamins. CitraNatal Assure builds on the benefits of the CitraNatal line and offers increased nutrients for women and their babies.
Prenatal vitamins are an important resource for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. They provide women with the essential vitamins and minerals they may be lacking from a healthy diet alone.
"CitraNatal Assure provides women with all the prenatal essentials of the CitraNatal line, and also offers increased levels of several vitamins and minerals," said Neill Walsdorf, Jr., President of Mission Pharmacal. "Mission Pharmacal is proud to add this unique formulation to the CitraNatal family to offer women another prenatal option to meet their individual needs."
CitraNatal Assure contains 300 mg of Martek's life'sDHA™, a patented, plant-based form of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, which is consistent with current published guidelines for pregnant and lactating women.1 DHA is the recommended essential fatty acid for prenatal care. It has been shown to be instrumental in the baby's pre- and postnatal brain, eye and nervous system development, increase the baby's gestation period, birth weight and size, lead to higher visual acuity at age 60 days, and increase cognitive and psychomotor developments.2-4 DHA cannot be produced naturally by the body; it must be gathered from diet or supplements.
CitraNatal Assure also offers increased levels of iron and vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 contributes to a baby's developing brain and nervous system and may help some women reduce severe nausea or vomiting during pregnancy.5,6 It also helps the body maintain blood glucose levels, metabolize proteins, formulate neurotransmitters for normal nerve cell communication and makes hemoglobin to carry oxygen to tissues.7
Pregnant women may experience improved comfort with CitraNatal Assure. CitraNatal Assure contains calcium citrate, a source known for proven absorption and no gas production to help ease GI discomfort during pregnancy, a gentle dual-iron formulation of carbonyl iron and ferrous gluconate for gentle absorption, tolerability and safety, and a stool softener to help ease constipation often associated with pregnancy.
The CitraNatal family of products offers four unique formulations of essential vitamins and minerals designed to ensure comfort and optimize nutrition for women and their babies. Women who are pregnant or planning to conceive should consult with their healthcare provider prior to beginning any prenatal vitamin regimen.
About the CitraNatal® Line
CitraNatal is marketed by Mission Pharmacal Company based in San Antonio, Texas. CitraNatal vitamins are specially formulated for the many women who require nutritional support prior to conception, throughout pregnancy, and during the postnatal period. The plant-derived DHA found in several CitraNatal products is produced exclusively by Martek Biosciences Corporation based in Columbia, Maryland.
About Mission Pharmacal
Mission Pharmacal is a privately held pharmaceutical company based in San Antonio, Texas. For more than 60 years, the company has been committed to meeting the unique needs of women throughout all stages of life, identifying unmet health needs in the marketplace, and developing innovative prescription and over-the-counter products to meet them. Currently, Mission Pharmacal provides physicians and consumers with pharmaceutical and nutritional products. For more information, visit www.missionpharmacal.com or www.citranatal.com.
Media Contact:
Ami Shah
cohn&wolfe
(212) 537-8048
ami.shah@cohnwolfe.com
- Simopoulos AP, Leaf A, Salem N Jr. Workshop on the Essentiality of and Recommended Dietary Intakes for Omega-6 and Omega-3 Fatty Acids. J Am Coll Nutr. 1999 Oct;18(5):487-9.
- Smuts CM, Huang M, Mundy D, Plasse T, Major S, Carlson SE. A randomized trial of docosahexaenoic acid supplementation during the third trimester of pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol. 2003 Mar;101(3):469-79.]
- Innis SM, Friesen RW. Essential n-3 fatty acids in pregnant women and early visual acuity maturation in term infants. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Mar;87(3):548-57.
- Jacobson JL, Jacobson SW, Muckle G, Kaplan-Estrin M, Ayotte P, Dewailly E. Beneficial effects of a polyunsaturated fatty acid on infant development: evidence from the inuit of arctic Quebec. J Pediatr. 2008 Mar;152(3):356-64. Epub 2007 Oct 22.
- Mahomed K, Gulmezoglu AM. Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) supplementation in pregnancy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2):CD000179.
- Sahakian V, Rouse D, Sipes S, Rose N, Niebyl J. Vitamin B6 is effective therapy for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy: a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study. Obstet Gynecol. 1991 Jul;78(1):33-6.
- Dietary supplement fact sheet: vitamin B6 [Internet]. National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements; 2007 Aug 24 [cited 2008 Nov 24]. Available from: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitaminb6.asp
More than 500,000 babies are born too soon each year. Some are so small they struggle to survive. This year, Mission Pharmacal is joining forces with the March of Dimes* as a National Corporate Sponsor to help raise awareness about the growing crisis of premature birth. To learn more and help us fight prematurity, click on the links below. For more than 60 years, Mission Pharmacal has been committed to providing products for healthy women and healthy babies.
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