Include Iron in Your Pregnancy Diet
By: Tsou JinyeuTotal Views: 177, Word Count: 574,
Being pregnant is a wonderful feeling and it is during this stage nutrition plays a very important role. By now your gynecologist must have already advised you to take folic acid supplements and towards the beginning of your second trimester iron supplements are also started. The requirement of iron is as high as 30-32 mg for a pregnant woman as compared to 12-15mg for a sedentary adult female.
The role of iron during pregnancy
- Hemoglobin, which helps in the transport of oxygen in the body, contains iron and the need for hemoglobin increases during pregnancy as it provides oxygen to the growing fetus as to you.
- Your blood volume also increases during pregnancy due to which there is an increased requirement for iron in the body.
- The growing fetus needs to up its own iron reserve. Hence, it is very vital for you to boost your iron intake during pregnancy.
- Iron helps in overall growth and development of the human body because it acts as a catalyst in many of the energy-production cycles.
- Iron helps to fight with stress and infection which is very critical during pregnancy. A stress free pregnancy helps in easy labor.
- Iron aids to evade symptoms of tiredness, weakness, irritability and depression
Types of iron and their food sources
- HEME IRON - It is generally found in animal foods such as liver, kidney, brain, egg yolk, meat, oysters, shrimp and fish.
- NON-HEME IRON - The source of this type of iron is found in foods such as cereals, beans, lentils, leafy vegetables, like spinach, radish, dried peach and apricot, cauliflower greens, watercress, pomegranates. Good vegetarian sources of non-heme iron include non-fortified breakfast cereals, flours and grains.
About 25-30 percent of heme iron is absorbed but only 2-8 percent of non-heme iron is absorbed. Hence, it is very important for vegetarians to have iron supplements during pregnancy apart from the dietary resources.
Side effects of consuming iron supplements
- The most common side effect of taking iron supplements is that your stools are dark or black. Sometimes, if the dose is too high for the body, there can be bleeding also along with stools. Don’t be alarmed by this change in your bowel habits after you start taking iron supplements.
- Other common side-effects consist of nausea, constipation, diarrhea and vomiting. Speak to your doctor for advice, but generally speaking, treatment involves lowering the intake of iron supplements.
- Take the supplements as directed by your doctor. Excess of iron supplements can cause poisoning.
Dietary factors which boost iron absorption
- Vitamin C and B helps in better iron absorption as it reduces ferric iron to ferrous iron.
- Vitamin A helps to mobilize stored iron and it also helps to increase iron absorption.
- Cysteine (amino acid cysteine) enhances iron absorption from vegetables, animal foods and salts. Cysteine-rich foods include yoghurt, poultry, egg yolk, garlic, onion, Brussels sprouts, oats, wheat germ etc.
- Copper helps in transporting iron in the human body. Sometimes iron deficiency anemia may reflect the more basic underlying problem of copper deficiency.
About the Author
Dr Tsou Jinyeu is a well known gynecologist and has been in this field since 1995. His special interests are – genetic and birth defects, high risk obstetrics, lupus in pregnancy, premature labour, premature delivery, triplets and ultrasound diagnosis. He is graduated from the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine. Nowdays he is working as a medical doctor at Elmhurst Loyola Center for Health.
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