Healthy diet and nutrition during pregnancy

Both the quality and quantity of the diet during pregnancy critically influence the health of the mother and her unborn child.  The most common nutritional concern of women during pregnancy is excessive weight gain.

They need to be encouraged to maintain a healthy diet and sufficient exercise throughout pregnancy. Inappropriate weight gain can place the newborn at greater risk for infection, illness, disabilities, and even death.

Women with eating disorders are often underweight at conception, increasing the risk of delivering a low birth-weight infant.

Some women experience pica (persistent eating of foods that have not nutrient value). Nonfood items most commonly craved and consumed by pregnant women with pica include ice or freezer frost, laundry starch or cornstarch.

Pica behavior may lessen the nutritional level of the mother and her fetus since the mother may not eat nutritious foods in sufficient quantity, which can lead to poor weight gain, low birth weight and intrauterine growth retardation.

Also, the substance that the woman is eating may have harmful effects to the maternal fetal unit. As part of preconception counseling, as well as good health practice during pregnancy and lactation, women should avoid alcohol, smoking, recreational or illegal drug use and take only those medications approved by her physician.

Women who drink 2 – 3 cups of coffee each day have a daily caffeine intake about 300 mg. Caffeine decreases the absorption of iron, which has a direct effect in the maternal fetal unit. During pregnancy, the caffeine has long been suspected of causing adverse effects in pregnant women because it increase heart rate, acts as a diuretic, and stimulate the central nervous system. Caffeine consumption during pregnancy may lead to caffeine withdrawal symptoms in new born.

Aspartame (found in some artificial sweeteners) contains the amino acid phenylalanine and should be avoided by pregnant women because high levels of phenylalanine can lead to impaired fetal brain development and result in mental retardation.  It also aggravates the stress response in the brain, making the women even more prone to nervousness. Women with a metabolic disorder called phenylketonuria (PKU) should avoid it.
Healthy diet and nutrition during pregnancy 

Balance diet during pregnancy

Pregnancy is a period of increasing nutritional demands associated with the growth of fetus and placenta; growth of maternal tissues, notably uterus and breasts; and increase in the volume of circulating blood and fat stores.

During pregnancy, the fetus’ cells and physiological capacities are developing. Therefore, women need to eat a well balance diet that has sufficient calories and represents a variety of food groups. They need to be encouraged to maintain a healthy diet and sufficient exercise throughout pregnancy.

A pregnant woman directly influences the nutritional status of her baby, and she must be sure her diet contains adequate nutrients for herself and for her baby.

Some women experience pica (persistent eating of foods that have not nutrient value). Pica behavior may lessen the nutritional level of the mother and her fetus since the mother may not eat nutritious foods in sufficient quantity, which can lead to poor weight gain, low birth weight and intrauterine growth retardation.

Also, the substance that the woman is eating may have harmful effects to the maternal fetal unit.

Pregnant women should increase their intake of essential nutrients and calories. For example to satisfy the protein demand of pregnancy, WHO recommends a total diet daily intake of .52-.57 g/kg.

Fat is more energy dense than carbohydrate or protein. Recent evident suggest that omega-3 fatty acids consumed during pregnancy are beneficial to cognitive development in infancy and childhood.

Pregnant women should consume 25-30% of their daily energy as fatty acids and they requiring 2500 kcal/day would need to consume 69-83 total grams fats daily.

They will need extra iron and may require additional vitamin and mineral supplementation.   A pregnant woman needs iron to satisfy the demand created by the growth of fetus, placenta and red cell mass during pregnancy and also the blood loss expected at the time of parturition.
Balance diet during pregnancy