Effects Of Nutritional Deficiencies In Pregnancy

Significance Of Maintaining A Healthy Diet

So the significance of maintaining healthy diet habits from the moment you plan your pregnancy is important as the demands of extra energy and nutrition starts during the early weeks of the first trimester itself. The conditions you provide your baby when he is inside your womb, whether it be healthy or unhealthy, has an influence on his overall health condition in the future. So try to maintain a nutritious environment for the development of your baby.

Micro-nutrient Deficiency During Pregnancy?

Micro-nutrient deficiency arises when the mother consumes a sufficient quantity of food that provides enough calories to meet the energy needs of the body but the food that is consumed doesn’t contain specific micro-nutrients that are needed to maintain the mother’s health and the fetus development. Iron deficiency, calcium deficiency etc. are examples of micro-nutrient deficiency that arises during pregnancy. Deficiency of micro-nutrients during pregnancy definitely arise problems during pregnancy, like:

• Vitamin K deficiency can lead to blood clotting disorder which may end in a substantial amount of blood loss during delivery
• Iron deficiency can make the mother anemic
• Magnesium deficiency can increase the chances of preterm delivery
• Iodine deficiency is associated with miscarriage and still birth
• Zinc deficiency can bring about preterm rupture of amniotic sac and premature delivery

How Does Micro-nutrient Deficiency During Pregnancy Affect The Child?

The deficiency of a particular micro-nutrient has an adverse effect on subsequent development of the fetus. Examples are:

• Mother, if not provided with an adequate amount of iodine can affect the brain development of the child in the womb. The secretion of thyroid hormone of the mother is also getting affected causing neurological cretinism in the child
• Maternal folate deficiency is the major cause of Neural tube defects seen in infants
• When the mother is zinc deficient, the chances of the fetal growth retardation and birth defects will increase

How Does Mother Get Affected When She Suffers From Nutritional Deficiencies In Pregnancy?

We have already analyzed the importance of micro-nutrients during pregnancy above. Now let us see what happens if the mother fails to store the extra energy and nutrients that the pregnancy demands. If you are not getting the needed extra nutrients during your pregnancy, your baby will steal whatever he wants from your body itself. Even if your intake of the nutrients is somehow not requisite during pregnancy, you still have the stored nutrients in different glands, muscle and bones of yours way before you get pregnant. It is these nutrients that your baby will draw up for his needs. Let’s go through some examples, like:

• If you are not getting enough calcium don’t worry that your baby is going to be born with brittle bones. More chances are that your bones are going to be weaker increasing the chances of developing osteoporosis in the future as your baby will take the calcium supply he needs from your bone
• You might have started your pregnancy with a good level of iron stored in the blood. But, during the second and the third trimester, the demand of iron increases as the baby starts to make his own circulatory system. If you couldn’t meet the demand through your diet or supplement it, your baby will drain it out from your blood leaving you anemic

In short, if you are not getting sufficient nutrients from your diet, or are unable to store them for both you and your child’s need, you are making both yours’s and your baby’s future health at stake. So, focus on getting sufficient nutrients not only throughout your pregnancy but also during the lactating period to feel and stay healthy and have a healthy baby.