Ritual is on a mission to build the most trusted brands for women’s health by prioritizing products grounded in science and efficacy. Case in point: Ritual’s Essential Prenatal Multi-vitamin, now backed by a human clinical trial.
“Pregnancy is a time of rapid, complex change and we knew that science needed to catch up,” Dr. Mastaneh Sharafi, RD, senior vice president of science and innovation at Ritual, told NutraIngredients. “So we had many questions unanswered, like, are current nutrients levels right? Do forms matter? And how do nutrients impact the mother and potentially the baby?”
With those questions in mind, Ritual conducted a double-blind, randomized controlled trial that spanned 24 weeks. While the typical clinical studies take around 12 weeks, Dr. Sharafi explained that this longer duration provided an opportunity to track meaningful changes beyond maternal blood, such as nutrient levels in cord blood and placenta.
At a time when diversity in clinical research is under threat, Dr. Sharafi said that Ritual chose to partner with Cornell and CUNY in Brooklyn as part of the company’s effort to prioritize inclusion in the research. The result? Nearly 67% of the participants identified as BIPOC.
“We prioritized inclusion in this clinical study because inclusion isn’t an afterthought—it’s the starting point," she said.
“If we want science to serve everyone, it has to include everyone. At Ritual, we believe clinical research should reflect the world we live in, not just a narrow slice of it. We recruited participants across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds: 33.9% white, 29% Black, 22.6% Asian and 14.5% from other groups.”
To hear more on the inclusive science behind Ritual’s prenatal and their findings, Serena Williams’ new role as Ritual’s first women’s health advisor and what’s next for the brand, listen to the NutraCast.
If you enjoy listening to the NutraCast, feel free to leave a review. You can subscribe on Apple, iHeart, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
