Supplements during lactation The more the merrier?

The German "Healthy Start - Young Family" network (Gesund ins Leben), affiliated with the Federal Center for Nutrition (Bundeszentrum fur Ernahrung, BZfE), recommends iodine supplementation during lactation, as well as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) intake for breastfeeding women with low fish consumption. But what do dietary supplements (DS) for breastfeeding women contain and in what dosage? We investigated 50 supplements and compared their iodine and DHA dosage to the recommendations set by the "Healthy Start - Young Family" network. 10% of the DS contained iodine according to the supplementation recommendation, while 72% exceeded and 4% fell short. 14% of the investigated DS did not contain iodine at all. In the case of DHA, 32% contained exactly the recommended amount, while 24% of the preparations exceeded and 2% fell short of this recommendation. 42% of the supplements did not contain any DHA. Our analysis shows that many DS do not meet the supplementation recommendations for iodine and DHA in the lactation period. In addition, all the investigated DS contained a large number of nutrients, some of which exceed the maximum levels proposed by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Bundesinstitut fur Risikobewertung, BfR). A reformulation of the preparations by the manufacturer, taking into account the recom-mendations as well as the proposed upper limits by the BfR, is desirable.