Health in Pregnancy

Pregnancy and lactation increase womens’ requirements for key nutrients such as energy, protein, omega-3 fatty acids and most vitamins and minerals including folate, iron and zinc. Additionally, development of the child has been shown to be optimised when the mother has adequate stores of vitamins and minerals such as iodine prior to pregnancy. Therefore adequate nutrition both before, and during pregnancy is essential to optimise the health of mother and child.

Iodine supplementation
Iodine supplementation is important if a woman is not achieving enough intake in her diet, because according to the World Health Organisation (ref: WHO/NHD/99.4. Geneva: WHO, 1999), iodine deficiency during pregnancy and breastfeeding is the most common cause of preventable intellectual disability worldwide. Furthermore there is good evidence that iodine deficiency is an important risk factor for impaired psychomotor development in infants (ref: Haddow JE, Palomaki GE, Alaan WC, et al. Maternal thyroid deficiency during pregnancy and subsequent neurological development of the child. N Engl J Med 1999;341:549-555) and impairs brain development, particularly in the early stages of pregnancy (ref: Glinoer et al.,1992;Hetzel 2000).

Relevant links

Pregnant women urged to take iodine

Teenage pregnancy may put girls at risk for Osteoporosis

Pointing the bone at osteoporosis

Pre-eclampsia explained

Pre-eclampsia research laboratories

Systemic reviews on Calcium