5 Nutrients That Pregnant Women Need To Consume More Of -

Many pregnant women in our western society today are not consuming optimal nutrients for a thriving pregnancy. Here are 5 nutrients that pregnant women need to consume more of for a healthier pregnancy.

5 Nutrients that Pregnant Women Should Consume More Of

Our typical western diet does not line up with the nutrients needed for a healthy pregnancy.

From a holistic health standpoint, many of the nutrients we eat are processed and fortified, meaning that our baby is not getting foods like iron or vitamin D in their purest forms.

I have had four babies and the more I learned about how to truly nourish my pregnant body over time, the better I felt and the less health complications we had with each consecutive baby.

What I Will Cover in This Post

What kinds of foods that pregnant women need in each trimester
5 nutrients that pregnant women need to consume more of
Some healthy recipes for pregnancy

What Kinds of Food that Pregnant Women Need in Each Trimester

It is no surprise that your body and your baby requires different nutrients in each trimester.

In your first trimester, your B vitamins are important for your baby’s organ growth, so foods to eat are leafy greens, red meat, eggs and strawberries. In the second trimester, iron and calcium are crucial for bone development, so foods to eat are milk, fish, red meat and kidney beans. In your third trimester, your baby’s brain is rapidly developing, so omega 3’s are optimal for brain health. Foods to eat for trimester three are salmon, sauerkraut and plain yoghurt.

For more food ideas, I share 30 food ideas for each trimester of pregnancy here.

5 Nutrients That Pregnant Women Need to Consume More of

Here are just 5 nutrients that you can include more of in your diet if you are pregnant for a healthier pregnancy:

Vitamin A: This nutrient is important in the development of nearly every system in the body, yet 1/4 of women don’t consume enough. Requirements increase during pregnancy, making 1/3 of pregnant women deficient. Conventional guidelines for pregnancy nutrition often caution against excess amounts, but do not promote sufficient intake.

Active vitamin A: The recommended daily intake is 770 mcg RAE (2,566 IU). The upper tolerable intake is 3,000 mcg RAE, or 10,000 IU (Journal), which is the current maximum daily intake unlikely to cause adverse health effects. This is thought to be a conservative estimate for safety’s sake, as studies have shown that a daily dose of 9,000 mcg RAE (30,000 IU) does not cause birth defects.

Benefits of vitamin A consumption for baby:

Proper development of the face, especially eyes, nose, dental arches and lips.
Full-term gestation.
Thyroid function.
Adequate birth weight.

Foods rich in vitamin A:

Animal liver (particularly beef, veal, lamb and duck)
Turkey and chicken giblets
Butter (particularly grass-fed)
Egg yolk
Sweet potato
Carrot juice
Pumpkin
Spinach
Kale

2. Iodine: Iodine deficiency is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the world, affecting nearly 1/3 of the population. Those in the United States and Canada generally meet their requirements for iodine due to iodized table salt, although data from 2013 suggested that pregnant women in North America were mildly iodine deficient.

Nutritional needs for iodine double during pregnancy, but on average only about 50% of prenatal vitamins on the market contain this mineral.

Iodine is particularly important in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy for thyroid development, as baby will start producing her own thyroid hormones after 16 weeks gestation.

Benefits of iodine for baby:

Proper thyroid functioning.
Supports brain development.

Foods rich in iodine:

Fish (particularly cod, nori and tuna)
Eggs
Cottage cheese
Milk
Yoghurt
Beef liver
Beans
Pork

3. Iron: Iron deficiency is the most common deficiency disorder in the world, and
pregnant women are particularly at risk. It’s estimated that only 20% of women begin a pregnancy with sufficient iron stores to maintain healthy levels throughout pregnancy. The most common cause of anemia is low iron levels in the blood: iron-deficiency anemia. However, non-anemic iron deficiency is also both problematic and under-recognized (Study).

From the study: Iron deficiency in pregnancy

At conception, many women lack sufficient iron stores to meet the increased
requirements of pregnancy.

In the first trimester, iron requirements actually decrease due to the absence
of menstruation.

In the second trimester, blood volume increases by 45%.

Fetal demands for iron are maximal during the third trimester, then there are
maternal losses following birth.

Increasing absorption of iron:

Do not consume iron with tannin-rich foods/beverages, such as coffee and
black tea.
Do not consume iron with calcium.
Cooking in a cast iron pan has been found to increase the iron content of the
food. This effect is determined by the food’s acidity, moisture content, and
length of cooking time.
Soak/sprout grains before consuming.
The probiotic strain Lactobacillus plantarum 299V has been clinically shown
to help improve iron status and reduce the risk of anemia in pregnant women
(study).
Several other minerals compete with iron absorption, so it’s preferable to
take it by itself or paired with vitamin C, which aids absorption.

Risks of low iron for baby:

Preterm delivery (twice as likely compared to normal levels).
Low birth weight.
Early-onset iron deficiency (<6 months).
Cognitive and motor development delays.
Impaired immune function.
Obesity.
High blood pressure.

Risks of low iron for the mother:

Heavy fatigue (which may be difficult to detect because fatigue generally
increases in pregnancy).
Cold hands and feet. Or hands and feet may tingle, loss of feeling,“pins and
needles.”
A tight chest, the feeling of being unable to take a full breath, a sense of
anxiety in the chest or palpitations may indicate low levels of iron (also may
be difficult to detect because as the baby grows, lung capacity can lessen
and cause shortness of breath).
Anemia can also lead to rapid or irregular heartbeat, trouble concentrating,
dizziness, depression, hair loss, restless legs, hypothyroidism, constipation
(although supplementing with iron may also lead to constipation), and more.
Pale skin, lips, inner eyelids, and nails.

Foods rich in iron:

Animal liver
Venison
Animal organs (particularly beef)
Duck
Sardines
Beef
Fish
Lentils
Beans
Quinoa

4. Omega-3: A baby’s brain is made up of 60% fat, specifically DHA. Omega 3s are best
known for their role in brain development and their ability to improve cognitive
function. A cognitive assessment of children at age 2.5 years, after maternal fish
oil supplementation in pregnancy, showed that “Children in the fish oil supplemented group attained a significantly higher score for eye and hand coordination than those in the placebo group (study)”.

Consumption of omega 3 has been shown to reduce the risk of development of allergies in babies and risk of the mother developing postpartum depression.

I can testify that after having two babies with severe allergies, I began taking fish oil for my third and fourth pregnancies and those two babies do not have any allergies to this day.

DHA benefits for baby:

Maternal DHA levels have shown to positively affect infant behavior attention
scores, visual recognition, memory, and language comprehension.
Important for optimal development of brain and nervous system during
pregnancy.
Crucial in the formation of neurons (functional cells of the brain).
Protects the brain from oxidation damage.
Has been shown to increase a child’s intelligence and decrease the chance
of neurological disorders.
Helps add protective padding to prepare baby for the outside world.

Foods rich in Omega 3:

Seafood, particularly fatty fish like salmon, mackerel and sardines
Flaxseeds
Chia seeds
Walnuts
Hickory nuts
Pecans
Hemp seeds
Pumpkin seeds

5. Vitamin K2: Vitamin K deficiency is common in newborns. Are deficient mothers the problem, and therefore is the solution to ensure that mothers are well-nourished? To better understand this, let’s look at the role of K1 and K2.

Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone): Primarily found in green leafy vegetables. K1 is
known for its blood clotting abilities.
Vitamin K2 (menaquinone:) Sourced from a few select foods and
synthesized by intestinal bacteria. The precise contribution of the
synthesized K2 to overall requirements is unknown.
Vitamin K1 deficiency is rare in adults, but newborns are commonly deficient in
vitamin K because:
K1 doesn’t cross the placenta well (for reasons we have yet to understand),
and the GI tract of a fetus isn’t mature enough to make its own K2.

Vitamin K2 has been shown to cross the placenta with greater efficiency than K1, and this transfer increases in the third trimester (study). This likely has to do with K2’s role in skeletal development that takes place in the third trimester, but it could also assist in blood clotting. It’s usually K1 that assists in coagulation, and K2 does not assume the role of blood clotting under normal circumstances.

However, studies show that K2 does take on the role of blood clotting when K1 is
inadequate or suppressed, such as with blood thinners (study).

Vitamin K2 has a very high transfer rate to breast milk and colostrum contains
much higher amounts of K2 than mature milk. Therefore, unrestricted
breastfeeding in the first hour after birth from a well-nourished mother should
serve as an immediate transfusion to newborns — as nature intended. However, modern breast milk is usually deficient because most mothers do not consume enough dietary K2, like traditional cultures once did.

Benefits of vitamin K2 for babies: