We’re building a radically better future for women’s nutrition.

For fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and women’s lifelong health

Created by two mothers and trained nutritionists who knew a better way was needed.

Nutrition has the power to change health outcomes for mothers and babies. Not just birth outcomes, but your fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and lifelong health thereafter. 
We know this as trained nutritionists.

So when we began our fertility journeys, we were shocked by the lack of nutrition advice and care women receive during pregnancy.

Women’s nutritional needs are at an all-time high in the perinatal stage. So we asked ourselves, why is nutrition for fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum so overlooked?

Women deserve
radically better nutrition.

97% of women take a prenatal vitamin during their pregnancy, yet 95% are left nutritionally depleted.

The average prenatal care appointment in the US is 12 minutes long–leaving time for only the bare minimum amount of nutrition advice. Women are left to do their own research, in a category that’s crowded with misinformation.

Prenatal vitamins are designed around RDAs, the bare minimum amount needed to avoid a disease condition. These RDAs are based on outdated research methods. In fact, pregnant and nursing women were intentionally excluded from much of the research that underpins these recommendations. 

New research and clinical insights from practitioners have emerged that challenge the bare minimum status quo. But it takes decades for new research to make its way into official recommendations. And even longer for prenatal vitamin companies to update their formulations.

Women need a radically better approach to their nutrition.

That’s why we started Needed.

Our Approach

We spent over 3 years developing our Nutritional System™ and we work every day to perfect it through ongoing clinical insights and research.

Our approach to product development begins with an exhaustive review of the clinical research. But the research has gaps, so to overcome them we turn to our collective of over 4,000 practitioners-from nutritionists, to dietitians, naturopathic doctors, midwives, and OB-GYNs. 

These practitioners test women’s nutrient and hormone levels at every stage–fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and women’s lifelong health. Insights from thousands of women went into determining what nutrient forms and dosing is optimal.

We set the standard for quality, going above and beyond what’s required for dietary supplements, including third-party testing every product batch.

We know that no prenatal vitamin, even our most complete Prenatal Multi, can address all of a woman’s nutrient needs. You need more than vitamins and minerals to thrive. That’s why we design our products to work together in a Nutritional System™ tailored to your needs.

And because radically better supplements are only part of the solution, we’ve built the leading destination for expert-backed educational content, and provide you with direct access to a nutritionist when you join as a Needed subscriber.

Who Are We?

We are a complete Nutritional System™ for fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and women's health.

We are Changemakers, and a collective of more than 6000 practitioners working together to set a radically better standard for women's health.

We are Needed Labs–closing the research gap and doing the work to prove that proper nutrition changes outcomes for mothers and babies.

We are a destination for expert-backed nutrition information, and a resource to get your nutritional questions answered.

We are committed to delivering a radically better Earth for future generations. We’re a Certified B Corp, Certified Climate Neutral, and a member of 1% for the Planet. 

We are a women-led team of nutrition nerds committed to championing the role of nutrition for women and their families.

Above all, we are mothers to 3-soon to be 4-young children ourselves.

We know how much this is needed.

Julie Sawaya & Ryan Woodbury, co-founders