Eating well before getting pregnant
Quite some time may elapse between the day you decide to conceive a child and the day you actually get pregnant. It’s important that you take advantage of this waiting period too.
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Most women know that they should eat a specific diet during the nine months of their pregnancies, but not all are aware of the need to prepare themselves nutritionally for pregnancy with vitamins, iron and iodine, for instance. Eating well before getting pregnant is essential!
Right from the first days of pregnancy, the foetus starts taking the energy it needs for idevelopment from nutrients. And it takes some women several months to build up sufficient reserves of minerals and vitamins. So, if you want an optimum pregnancy, you should create a healthy environment for your baby to grow in and make sure you get enough folic acid, iron and iodine.
These three nutrients, which are often absent from women's diets, are especially needed for pregnancy and should be made a priority. Discuss it with your GP, who will be able to diagnose any deficiencies before you become pregnant, and offer the advice you need to remedy those deficiencies.
Vitamin B9 is indispensable for early pregnancy
Vitamin B9 or folate deficiency can lead to serious consequences on your baby’s development and is therefore critically important. An estimated 900 British pregnancies per year are affected by neural tube defects attributable to insufficient folate intake. Many doctors are pushing for vitamin B9 supplementation as soon as pregnancy is confirmed. Unfortunately, it’s often too late. “Replenishing folate reserves takes about 4 months, while the foetus needs folic acids in the first few weeks of its development,” doctor and nutritionist Ambroise Martin says.
This means you should make sure you consume adequate levels of folates starting from the time you think about conceiving and continue to be vigilant throughout pregnancy. Pregnant women’s requirements rise to 400 micrograms per day. Lettuce, green vegetables, most particularly leafy ones, cheese and eggs are especially rich in folates. In order to avoid vitamin B9 deficiency during pregnancy, you should take supplements on a regular basis, from the time you consider having a child through to the end of the first trimester of pregnancy.
Building up your pre-pregnancy iron reserves
Over 23% of women of reproductive age have no iron resources. Insufficient iron intake doesn’t affect your baby but it may seriously affect your own well-being. Nature is well designed: your baby is served first and, if there is enough left, you’ll get some of it too. Thus, if you don’t have sufficient iron reserves, you’re at risk of anaemia. Symptoms of this condition include body weakness, impaired immune defences and severe fatigue.
There is good news, too: as soon as iron intake is back to normal, everything else follows. “During pregnancy, iron is more readily bioavailable and its absorption exceeds the usual amount by a factor of 3 to 9” Ambroise Martin says. Pregnant women’s folate requirements are sometimes twice the normal amount. The most easily absorbable iron comes from red meat, liver in particular, but it can also be found in dry and fresh vegetables as well as in cereals. To facilitate its processing, iron can be combined with vitamin C.
Iodine for your developing baby and before getting pregnant
Roughly 12 to 25% of women have iodine intakes below the amount recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). This deficiency can translate into thyroid disorders, most particularly development of little goitres. In expectant mothers, iodine deficiency results in delays in the baby’s mental development. Fortunately, the most serious instances, such as babies born with congenital hypothyroidism (an irreversible condition of severely stunted physical and mental growth) have now disappeared.
Pregnancy raises iodine requirements, which go from 150 to 200 micrograms a day. Iodine can also be found in more largely consumed products, such as milk, yoghurts and eggs. Since iodine stimulates growth, it is used in the form of a dietary supplement by poultry and cow breeders; which is why products made from these animals contain iodine.
The amount of iodine contained in organic milk is lower as recourse to nutritional supplementation is normally limited or altogether avoided in this type of agriculture. However, milking equipment is disinfected with iodine, thereby making organic milk a minor contributor to iodine intake. Also, iodised table salt is another way to supplement iodine intake.
So, if you’re planning on becoming a mother, remember to adjust your diet now!
Special thanks to nutritionist Ambroise Martin, director of the nutritional and health risks department at the French National Agency for Health, Food, Environmental and Work Safety (AFSSA).
Copyright © 2009 Doctissimo
Posted 13.09.2010
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