Meet Perelel: The First OBGYN-Founded Prenatal Vitamin

Throughout a woman’s pregnancy, one of the most critical things she can do to support her body and her growing baby is to take prenatal vitamins. While there are countless pregnancy supplements on the market, they are not all created equal. And this is a fact that Victoria Thain Gioia and Alex Taylor know too well. Gioia’s second daughter was born with a cleft lip, something she later learned was caused by a folic acid deficiency. Despite folic acid being present in all of her prenatal vitamins, she discovered 40 to 60 percent of women have a common genetic mutation–known as the MTHFR variant–which prevents them from turning folic acid into folate, the body's usable format. Taylor’s gripe with the prenatal vitamin industry was that incorporating the vitamins into her daily routine was a less than seamless experience. She spent every day of her first pregnancy haphazardly piecing together her own regimen of supplements from various retailers to ensure she was receiving all of the nutrients she and her baby needed. 

Gioia and Taylor’s shared frustrations with the “one-size-fits-all” approach to prenatal supplements fueled their desire to reinvent pre and post-natal health. So, the millennial mom duo took action and teamed up with Dr. Banafsheh Bayati MD FACOG to create Perelel, the first OBGYN co-founded vitamin and supplement company. Keep scrolling to learn more about how Perelel aims to educate and provide women with the proper dosage of vitamins and supplements during each unique phase of pregnancy. 

Perelel is launching with five supplement packs tailored to each stage of motherhood: preconception, first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, and post-pregnancy. "Each pack includes four supplements," Gioia says. "Each one includes our core prenatal, which has the 22 nutrients that cover all of your needs in a multivitamin. Each includes an omega—DHA and EPA—to support brain development and the mom throughout the five stages. They also include two specific supplements that are targeted to those phases." The brand’s targeted packs were designed to allow you to consume the fewest vitamins possible while still receiving the maximum amount of nutrients. Another plus? A subscription will keep track of how far along you are in your pregnancy to ensure the right supplement packs are being shipped to your door every month. 

To ensure that they were bringing the best quality supplements to the market, Gioia and Taylor turned to medical experts. "We brought on my OB Dr. Bayati to build that medical trust and to really run point on formulating the cleanest, safest, and best product," Gioia says. "She had always focused on nutrition and had a holistic nature of practice. We knew that she was vital to creating a top-of-the-line product." In addition to Dr. Bayati, Gioia and Taylor assembled the Perelel Panel—a cohort of multidisciplinary experts in the pre- and post-natal medical fields—to expand their medical community relations. "They review all of our product formulations and support us with new product developments," Taylor says.

Perelel Daily Capsule Packs $48.00

Shop

The Perelel Panel also helps create the tailored educational content you’ll find on the brand’s site. "They are the voice of all of our content to ensure that we are really coming from a place of credibility and authority, and putting resources out there that are really useful to our woman," Taylor explains. On Perelel’s website, new or expecting moms can browse through articles that were written with their unique needs in mind—ranging from safe workouts to supportive, healthy diet. With their subscription, Perelel users will receive customized content based on exactly what phase of pregnancy they’re in. 

In line with their mission to make better prenatal supplements accessible to all women, Perelel will also be launching an initiative to help mothers in underserved communities. For every subscription sold, Perelel will donate a supply of their prenatal vitamins to mothers in need. "Many women in the United States don't have access to high-quality prenatal vitamins or care," Taylor says. "And being moms and wanting to do a little good for the world, we decided to make the mission of our business to create a world for healthy babies and more healthy moms."

Perelel vitamins and supplements will be available starting September 30 and cost $48 a month. You can shop Perelel on PerelelHealth.com.