Pregnancy is a time when your body’s nutritional needs reach their peak. It’s not just about eating for two but about deeply nourishing both you and your growing baby with the most nutrient-dense, bioavailable foods possible.

While modern prenatal vitamins often attempt to fill the gaps, they can’t quite replicate the complexity of whole foods, especially beef organs, which contain the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals in the exact forms your body recognises.

Yet when it comes to pregnancy, a question often arises: are organ meats safe?

The answer lies not in fear, but in understanding vitamin A, a nutrient that’s both essential and yet, in excess, potentially harmful.

 

This article is general information, not medical advice. Speak to your midwife, GP or obstetrician about your own needs

 

Why consider beef organ supplements during pregnancy?

Organ meats are nature’s most concentrated source of nourishment. Just small amounts supply nutrients critical to pregnancy that are often poorly absorbed from plants or synthetic pills. You can read our full beef organ supplements guide here.

• Beef Heart: The heart is rich in CoQ10, a compound essential for mitochondrial energy, the kind that supports both maternal stamina and foetal development.

• Beef Kidney: Kidney provides selenium, zinc, and B-vitamins that help regulate thyroid function and protect against oxidative stress, two pillars of a healthy pregnancy.

• Beef Spleen: The spleen is nature’s iron reserve. It’s exceptionally rich in heme iron and supportive cofactors like copper, which aid in building strong red blood cells and preventing the anaemia so common in pregnancy.
• Beef Lung: Often overlooked, lung is a natural source of elastin, collagen, and trace minerals that support tissue flexibility and oxygen transport.

The vitamin A nuance, when more isn’t better

Beef liver is among the richest food sources of preformed vitamin A (retinol), the biologically active form that your body can use immediately. During pregnancy, vitamin A is vital for your baby’s eyes, bones, and immune development. But too much retinol can pose risks, particularly to the developing embryo in the first trimester.

NHS

Liver and liver products have lots of vitamin A in them. According to NHS guidance: “Too much vitamin A could harm your baby.” nhs.uk

Royal College of Gynaecologists

Avoid more than 700 IU a day of vitamin A from supplements, and avoid liver and fish liver oils. RCOG

World Health Organisation

Routine vitamin A supplements in pregnancy are not recommended unless there’s a severe deficiency problem in the population. World Health Organization

A quick bit of label maths helps. The NIH lists the upper limit for preformed vitamin A at 3,000 micrograms RAE per day for adults, and shows how to convert IU to micrograms RAE: 1 IU of retinol ≈ 0.3 micrograms RAE. If you see 76 IU, that’s about 23 micrograms RAE. Always add up everything you take in a day (prenatal, any organ blend, and fortified foods) to see the full picture. Remember, it's retinol or preformed vitamin A that is problematic, vitamin A from plants your body uses as needed. Office of Dietary Supplements

Bottom line

Beef organ supplements can be concentrated sources of iron, B-vitamins, selenium and CoQ10 from real food. Choose modest portions. Favour heart and spleen. Use kidney occasionally. If liver is present in a supplement, read the label and keep vitamin A low.

The clean-label checks (this is the part most people skip)

Read the label

If you see liver or vitamin A (retinol/retinyl), note the amount per serving. Convert IU → micrograms RAE (×0.3) and add it to your daily total. Keep it well below 700 micrograms from supplements.

Ask for proof of testing

Organs can carry heavy metals, especially kidney and liver. Good brands test finished products for elements like lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury using standards based on USP 2232 and will often certify to NSF/ANSI 173 for extra reassurance. Ask for a recent Certificate of Analysis (COA) that covers heavy metals and yeast/mould. If they won’t share it, walk away.

Keep doses modest

Pregnancy isn’t the time for megadoses. If you use an organ-based powder or capsule, a small inclusion that keeps vitamin A very low is the safer shape. WHO doesn’t support routine vitamin-A supplementation in pregnancy outside deficiency settings.

Food first

UK guidance still centres a normal pregnancy diet with routine folic acid early on and vitamin D as needed. Use any organ product as a complement, not a replacement.

Check with your clinician

Especially if you already take a prenatal, iron, or any other supplement.

Where Organised sits

Organised is a beef organ protein powder which contains small amounts of freeze-dried beef organs. Our blend contains 76.3 IU of vitamin A (mainly from retinol) per serving, which converts to about 23 micrograms RAE - below recognised upper-limit guidance values. We also send all of our batches for independent testing of heavy metals and microbes and stay comfortably within recognised limits. If you want to see what “good” looks like, here are our heavy metal and microbial tests.

Quick answers to common questions

Beef organ supplements during pregnancy?

Favour products that contain very low retinol and clear third-party testing. Avoid products that have a large amount of liver. Always check totals with your clinician. 

Beef liver supplements during pregnancy?

Possibly, but it depends on the dosage of retinol. Guidance says to avoid vitamin-A supplements in pregnancy.

Beef kidney supplements during pregnancy?

Lower retinol than liver, but kidneys can accumulate cadmium, so testing matters. Choose brands that publish COAs and discuss use with your care team.

Beef spleen supplements during pregnancy?

No retinol to speak of and iron-dense. Whether you need extra iron is a clinical decision.

Beef heart supplements during pregnancy?

Low in retinol; a natural source of CoQ10 in the diet. Quality and dosing still matter.