Nutrition During Pregnancy

By Roberta Graziano

This short booklet is intended as a tool for all people interested in finding out how to eat during one of the most important but also delicate periods of a woman's life. It is not an exhaustive guide but only illustrative and introductory. It is not a diagnostic tool for which it is advisable to contact specialists in the sector.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Babelcube Inc.
• Release date: May 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781667402093

Book preview

pregnancy

Roberta Graziano

Nutrition during pregnancy

Summary

Introduction.......................................1

Energy and macronutrients..........................3

Energy......................................4

Proteins.....................................6

Fat 8

DHA.............................................9

Micronutrients....................................13

Iron.......................................13

Iodine......................................15

Calcium....................................16

Vitamin D..................................17

Folic Acid..................................18

Dangers of intoxication during pregnancy.............26

Toxoplasmosis...............................28

Listeria.....................................31

Conditions that expose you to the risk of deficiencies....34

Smoking...................................35

Exclusion diets..............................35

Obesity....................................37

Previous bariatric surgery.........................38

Adolescence................................40

Multiple and repeated pregnancies...............42

Previous and unfavorable obstetricians............43

Decalogue for pregnancy: 10 simple rules for not exposing yourself too much  44

Bibliography.....................................50

Introduction

A healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition are crucial for the health of the mother and baby during the period of pregnancy, all the better if these habits are maintained from the preconception period.

In fact, numerous scientific evidences show that food deficiencies and excesses throughout the period of pregnancy are associated with growth and neuromotor development disorders first of the fetus and then of the newborn, as well as being related to the increased risk of non-communicable diseases.

given the alarming data, in fact, the European recommendations for the primary prevention of congenital malformations try to direct future mothers as much as possible towards protective factors in order to try to reduce as much as possible the risks associated with nutrition, lifestyles and the environment.

Why do European recommendations start from malformations? Because what are defined as rare diseases are not so rare (just think that in 2012 the World Health Organization found an overall incidence of 3% on births) and are often events with serious and disabling consequences.

To worsen the situation, then, there is also the fact that the same factors that increase the risk of malformations also increase the risk of other adverse outcomes (growth and development delays, prematurity, spontaneous abortions).

For what concerns feeding, nutritional deficits during pregnancy or more simply the insufficient supply of nutrients during this period are associated with growth and fetal development disorders and manifest themselves with low birth weight and small size in relation gestational age that predispose, for example, to short stature in adulthood and reduced cognitive ability.

But the health of the mother before pregnancy also has a significant influence on the state of health of the child in the future. Just think of the numerous epidemiological evidences that confirm a relationship between some conditions of the mother in the periconceptional period, in particular obesity or an excessive weight gain during pregnancy with unfavorable effects on the health of the fetus, which in the short term, i.e. in the immediately following period at birth, they manifest themselves with high birth weight, adiposity and alterations in glycemic metabolism in the child, but which in adulthood can cause an increase in cardiometabolic risk.

Today all experts talk about the first 1000 days of life (i.e. the period from conception to the baby's two years) as a key period

for the prevention of adult diseases

through an adequate supply of

energy, macro and micronutrients.

From this it follows that it’s

therefore appropriate