EXCLUSIVE: Ritual Announces Latest Clinical Trial on Prenatal Multivitamin
- Ritual is conducting a clinical trial on its Prenatal Multivitamin, which has already completed trials on other products like Sleep BioSeries Melatonin and Essential for Women Multivitamin.
Ritual is continuing its investment in women's health research.
Tuesday, the supplement brand is announcing its latest clinical trial on its Prenatal Multivitamin , $39, a capsule supplement available in a mint or citrus essence formulated with 12 essential nutrients like biotin, choline and DHA. Ritual has completed three other clinical trials on its Sleep BioSeries Melatonin , $25, Essential for Women Multivitamin , $33 and HyaCera Wrinkle Support , $54.
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"We've always wanted to have a stake in the ground when it came to clinical science and research in women's health," said Ritual founder and chief executive officer Katerina Schneider. "Since Day One, that was part of the vision for the company… We're the first leading brand to have a human clinical study on a prenatal."
The brand, which exceeded $250 million in sales in 2024, emphasized how crucial this study is for the overall industry given the disparities across women's health research.
"In 2020 only 5 percent of global research funding went to women's health," said Dr. Mastenah Sharafi, Ritual's senior vice president of science/innovation, adding that women weren't even required to be included in clinical research until 1993.
The randomized, double-blind, controlled study on the prenatal included 62 pregnant women in the second and third trimester and looked at maternal samples at baseline, week 12 and week 24. The study tested Ritual's product against another prenatal plus a DHA vitamin — DHA was included to ensure all participants received proper prenatal nutrition, as Ritual's version already includes this ingredient. Participants ranged from 21 to 45, and 33.9 percent were white, 29 percent were Black, 22.6 percent were Asian, and 14.5 percent reported another race.
The findings were positive and outpaced the other prenatal and DHA supplement. Particularly, it found 2.4x increase in biotin levels in maternal serum, better folate absorption, lower cortisol levels and participants reported a better user experience with Ritual. Blood cords also found increased biotin levels, better folate and increased indicators of baby's bone health. Given these findings, the prenatal provides better health outcomes for both the mom and baby.
Although some competitor companies may be touting clinically backed formulas, the team shared how important it is to actually look at what the company is reporting.
"You will see from competitors that they are making claims that they have clinical studies or studies on their prenatal, but it's an observational study," said Sharafi.
This could look like users simply reporting that they feel better overall, without showcasing the statistical changes over the pregnancy to mom and baby. In addition, the category has become increasingly murky as other brands may claim clinically backed products when the active ingredients have previously been tested in studies that are unrelated to the actual formula.
In addition to this announcement, the brand shared that its Prenatal Multivitamin is the number-one prenatal in the United States.
In terms of clinical research, more is on the way. For the Prenatal Multivitamin, the next step is to have the research published. In addition, the brand is investing over $5 million into this initiative and has several other trials underway now. Next up will be the brand's Postnatal Multivitamin, $44.
"Similar to the prenatal, we're going to have findings that are bigger than just our brand and our product but are gonna have implications for women's health research," said Schneider.
As the brand doubles down on these initiatives, Schneider said the company has seen direct benefits from these investments.
"Having stronger claims has a significant impact on conversion rates and the performance of creatives," she said.
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