Why good prenatal nutrition is vital

You’ve probably heard that prenatal nutrition is key for having a healthy baby, but you may not know why it’s important, nor what exactly constitutes good prenatal nutrition.

Good prenatal nutrition is vital to the baby in terms of birth-weight, health, organ function, central nervous system development, cardiovascular function and a host of other parameters.

Poor prenatal nutrition can permanently damage the insulin-producing cells of the baby’s pancreas, according to Harvard researchers.  Most often, these infants are under-weight at birth and suffer from Type 2 Diabetes.  When this condition occurs, these children are at risk for obesity and must exercise and control their weight throughout their lives.

In the broadest sense, an expectant mother’s energy expenditure is 17% higher than normal, according to emedicine.com, so women of normal weight should consume 300 additional calories daily while pregnant to avoid the possibility of a low birth-weight infant.  These calories should be nutrient-dense.

If you are pregnant and your schedule doesn’t permit you to shop for nutrient-dense food, an alternative is to consume food that is not quite so nutrient-dense and boost the nutrients with supplements.

More specifically, there are suggested macronutrient ratios.  Protein should comprise at least 20% of a pregnant woman’s diet.  If you do not eat meat, you will need to consume tofu, beans and rice at the same meal, quinoa, or utilize other vegetarian strategies for getting sufficient protein.

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamins and minerals is notoriously low for all micronutrients.  We should all be consuming far more than the RDA in order to attain optimal health.  Even the RDA though increases during pregnancy as follows:

• Vitamin B-1: increase from RDA of 1.1 mg to 1.5 mg. while pregnant.
• Vitamin B-2: increase from RDA of 1.3 mg to 1.6 mg. while pregnant.
• Vitamin B-6: increase from RDA of 1.5 mg to 2.2 mg. while pregnant.
• Vitamin B-12: increase from RDA of 2.0 mcg to 2.2 mcg. while pregnant.
• Vitamin C: increase from RDA of 60 mg to 70 mg. while pregnant.
• Vitamin D: increase from RDA of 200-400 mg to 400 mg. while pregnant.
• Vitamin E: increase from RDA of 8 mg to 10 mg. while pregnant.
• Vitamin K: increase from RDA of 60 mg to 65 mg. while pregnant.
• Folic acid: increase from RDA of 0.2 mg to 0.4 mg. while pregnant.
• Niacin: increase from RDA of 15 mcg to 17 mcg. while pregnant.
• Iron: increase from RDA of 15 mg to 30 mg. while pregnant.
• Zinc: increase from RDA of 12 mg to 15 mg. while pregnant.

The work of tabulating and incorporating these increased needs for vitamins and minerals has been done by EnergyFirst who offers a premier prenatal formula that incorporates optimal elements of each micronutrient and coenzyme. 

Gerry Morton, CEO of EnergyFirst, suggests the following strategies for jump-starting good prenatal nutrition:

• Shop for organic fruits and vegetables.  The darker in color the vegetables are, the better, since lighter ones are less nutrient-dense.
• Drink organic, fresh-squeezed juices, but don’t consume more than a pint per day due to the high amounts of fructose (naturally occurring fruit sugar) they contain.
• If you eat meat, go for free-range chicken and grass-fed beef. 
• Limit your consumption of cooked seafood to one or two servings per week due to possible mercury contamination risk.
• Avoid sushi for the reason above.
• Drink at least eight to ten eight-ounce servings of water daily, preferably bottled spring water or filtered tap water.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine.
• Get a minimum of seven hours of sleep per night.
• Exercise in moderation.
• Supplement your food intake with a good prenatal vitamin formula