Prenatal Vitamins: Why You Need to Take Them
The best prenatal vitamins can help you bridge the gap in your nutritional intake. While it is true that it will not compensate 100 percent for a healthy and balanced diet, it can give you a good dose of essential vitamins and minerals to support your well-being and health.
This becomes even more necessary when you are pregnant or trying to conceive. In such cases, more often than not, your doctor or midwife will ask you to invest in a quality prenatal vitamin to make sure that your baby grows and develops without any complications.
But what exactly makes prenatal vitamins a must-have? Read on as we discuss the nutrients that you should be looking for when you buy a prenatal vitamin.
Decoding the Ingredients that Makeup Prenatal Vitamins
The Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) and National Health Service (NHS) have made a comprehensive list of recommended micro-ingredients that you can use as a reference in the tool when you are looking to buy the best prenatal vitamins. We have compiled a list of these ingredients after taking the recommendations of both the boards.
Folic Acid. You need folic acid to facilitate the healthy growth and development of your baby. Not only can you prevent birth defects in the brain and spine, but it can also be beneficial to look after the heart while reducing the chances of birth defects like cleft lip or palate.
It is recommended to take 400 mg of folic acid from the time before you get pregnant to 12 weeks pregnant by the NHS.
Vitamin A. Consuming vitamin A can help to maintain growth, gene expression, proper development, vision, cellular production, and immunity. In addition to this, you can also take advantage of other forms of vitamin A such as retinoids that can aid embryonic and fetal development. This includes the proper formation of ears, eyes, limbs, and heart.
Iron. Hemoglobin is a protein that helps to carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of your body.
Iron is an important mineral that is required to make hemoglobin, to make more blood to carry oxygen to the baby. Even your baby needs iron to make its own blood.
A deficiency in iron can lead to a health condition known as anemia. Anemia refers to the decrease in the total amount of red blood cells (RBCs) or hemoglobin in the blood. This will make you feel more exhausted and weak as the ability of the blood to carry oxygen gets significantly reduced.
Vitamin D. Vitamin D is important to support your bone health. In fact, it is also essential to prevent diseases and maintain your health.
A deficiency in this vitamin can negatively affect a pregnant woman’s mood, blood pressure, brain function, and immunity system. As such, it is important to have a healthy level of vitamin D to protect the mother and the baby.
Iodine. There are two main reasons why you need iodine. Firstly, this nutrient can help to regulate maternal thyroid hormone production and thyroid hormone. Secondly, it can reduce the chances of brain damage, stillbirth, miscarriage, and birth defects.
You see, maternal thyroid hormone production and thyroid hormone are required for myelination of the central nervous system and healthy fetal brain development. This, in turn, makes sure that the nervous system and the brain of your baby develop properly.
Calcium. You need calcium for the development of strong muscles, teeth, nerves, and, of course, bones.
If you are deficient in calcium, your body will redirect calcium from your own bones and teeth to your baby. This may increase the chance of you developing bone diseases such as osteoporosis when you grow older.
Zinc. A deficiency in zinc levels can become common in pregnant women. This is due to rapid cell growth which makes proper supplementation necessary. If you don’t have enough zinc in your body when you are pregnant, adverse outcomes like premature delivery, low birth weight, and liver complications may arise.
Magnesium, Sodium, and Potassium. Magnesium, sodium, and potassium are electrolytes that help to keep the body hydrated. Hydration is important to ensure the smooth functioning of the body such as muscle contractions and transmission of nerve impulses.
While sodium and potassium are important, magnesium is an absolute must during pregnancy. This electrolyte is needed to make sure that there is no hurdle in your baby's development and there is an adequate flow of blood to the brain.
Resources— American Pregnancy Association, Eco And Beyond
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