Information About Prenatal Supplements

by: Megan Hazel

Congratulations! You are pregnant! At this most amazing time of your life, it has never been more important to watch what you eat and to be certain that you are only ingesting the healthiest of nutrients for you and your growing baby. Your body is going to change and grow more rapidly and significantly than ever before, and you will need to stay in optimal physical condition to meet the challenging changes you will soon face. Likewise, your little fetus will soon be a baby outside in the real world, and it is up to you to give them all of the best nutrition to help them grow and thrive properly.

Most practitioners will tell you to drop all of the supplements you may currently be taking once you find out you are pregnant. In fact, even the supplement bottles themselves seem to tell you this. Most of them indicate on the label that you should consult your doctor before taking if you are pregnant or nursing. However, there are some nutrients that are so important that many doctors suggest taking them in addition to a healthy regimen of diet and exercise. Generally, you can meet all of your supplement needs in the form of one prenatal vitamin, but let us break down the makeup of that and talk about some of the most critical nutrients involved. This way, you can be sure to not only take your daily prenatal vitamin but to also eat plenty of foods that supply these nutrients naturally in non-supplement form.

Folic acid is considered the most critical nutrient during pregnancy. It is so important that, many health practitioners recommend it to women who are simply trying to conceive a baby and have not yet become pregnant. By building up their stores of folic acid, they can ensure that the levels are high when pregnancy occurs. It is a good idea for all women of child-bearing age to take in at least 400 mcg daily. For women who are trying to conceive or have begun their first trimester of pregnancy, it is sometimes recommended that they take ten times this amount!

Folic acid can drastically reduce the chance of your baby being born with birth defects. Specifically, the chances of having neural tube defects are lessened with extra consumption of folic acid. Neural tube defects are those that affect the brain and the spinal cord, the most well-known example being spina bifida. These tragic defects can cause mental retardation, paralysis, blindness, or other serious conditions for the newborn. Adding a folic acid supplement to your diet can not only add to your peace of mind, but can drastically reduce chances of these life-altering conditions occurring. Be sure also to eat plenty of fortified cereals and grains, since the FDA now ensures that folic acid is added to these to meet 100% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA). Also good are greens such as broccoli, asparagus and spinach, as well as oranges for your fruit. Beef liver is especially high in folic acid, so choose lean cuts when you eat your beef to increase your folic acid while attempting to keep your fat intake in check.

Another crucial supplement for a pregnant woman is iron, which can also be found aplenty in beef. For those who are not beef eaters, again, you can meet your needs well when eating cereals and other grains since the FDA has fortified many if not all of the often-consumed and popular rice, flour, bread and cereal products. If you are a vegetarian, however, you will not be eating beef (or chicken or seafood, which are other popular sources of iron) and an iron supplement becomes all the more important for you in particular when pregnant. While you can get iron from dark leafy green vegetables, most people do not eat enough of these. It is recommended that a woman get 27 mg per day, which is significant jump from the needs of a non-pregnant woman, who requires only 18 mg per day. Without enough iron, a woman can become anemic and this can cause malnutrition in a developing fetus, as well as even greater fatigue and rapid breathing when exerting oneself as a pregnant woman.

Last, but by no means least, if you are pregnant you want to ensure that you are getting sufficient calcium in your diet. Calcium is a very abundant mineral, and it is not likely that you will suffer from extreme calcium deficiency. Further, the most well-known source of calcium is milk and other dairy products, and these are usually consumed aplenty by most people. In any event, to be on the safe side it is smart to supplement your calcium intake while pregnant. Your bone density and that of your developing baby’s is at stake!

If you follow a healthy pattern of eating, supplementation and exercise, you should also have a healthy pregnancy. Be sure to consult your obstetrician before starting any sort of supplement program while pregnant, even as it regards folic acid, iron and calcium.