Vitamins during pregnancy - good or harm?

How to take vitamins during pregnancy: how many days, when to make a break, and what are the terms of necessity in vitamin preparations?

What girls are made of? … Well, from pastries - for example … This is an old question. This problem becomes particularly relevant, when a girl grows up and prepares to become a mother. It’s no secret that we are all made of water and substances coming from food. And of vitamins, too. 

How many vitamins do we need during pregnancy, and generally, can one receive too many vitamins?

As scientists discovered, influence of unbalanced or malnutrition is comparable to negative influence of genetic factors, chemical or infectious agents. The vast majority of diseases that can be detected immediately in a newborn baby - a native of intrauterine life, when he was an embryo.

The problem became too obvious, when they proved there is a connection between developmental disabilities and a pregnant woman’s diet deficiency on the stage of child intestines formation - protein, folic acid, zinc and copper.

Now all pregnant women are prescribed folic acid in a dose of 300-400 mkg a day to prevent the gravest defect of nerve trunk. Consequences of folate deficiency may include appearance of anemia, increasing frequency of toxicosis, placental abruption, premature birth to the time of childbirth. Scientists found a connection between lack of vitamin B2 and fetal death, uncontrollable vomiting, decrease in lactation. Deficiency of vitamin C represents the risk of early membrane rupture.

As you know, generally a woman postpones her visit to a well-woman clinic for several weeks. And time will definitely pass after the words “I think that I’m pregnant”. However, baby’s intestines are being formed right during this period! Therefore, precautionary measures should be taken by all those planning pregnancy.

Throughout the world, the problem of vitamins during pregnancy is solved simply. Necessary substances are added in foods, soft drinks, there manufactured nutritional supplements, multivitamin preparations. For example, in the U.S. about 60% of the total population and 90-100% of pregnant women regularly take vitamins for preventive purposes. In our conditions, the easiest and realistic way is to take optimal number of vitamin preparations, fortified milk, drinks on the basis of vitamin mixtures.

However, it turned out that one third of pregnant women take 1,5 - 2 times more vitamins than the required norm is. Doctors approved recommended rates of various food substances consumption, but they exceeded average physiological requirements, because of possible spread of most people’s physiological needs. Thus, discrepancy to individual features may provide counter adverse effect.

Vitamin A can reach fetus through placenta in excessive quantities. Its teratogenic effect is proven in a dose of 24000-30000 IU per day. There are cases of defects due to increased liver consumption. The daily dose should not exceed 750 micrograms for pregnant women - this is the British and French opinion. It is not recommended to abuse such foods as liver, fish oil, supplements with large amounts of vitamin A. Pediatricians remember a period of carotene jaundice, when babies were fed with carrot purees and juices from 2-3 months of life.

Of course, it is difficult to link child malformations and hypoplasia of some organs with vitamin A in each case. But the fact remains - a third of pregnant women consumes vitamin A in a dose of 230% of daily need. In many cases, families have liver diseases, cholelithiasis, pancreatitis, which is a relative contraindication to prescription of large vitamin A doses. Therefore, excessive fortification is not good.

An excess of vitamin C causes an increase in kidney diseases and related gestosis. While mother intensely consumes vitamin C, level of this vitamin is reduced in a newborn’s blood and causes a threat of “bleeding”. In the UK, recommended doses are reduced to 60 mg per day, in the U.S. - 75 mg.

Placenta is low permeable to vitamin E. In domestic and foreign drugs its level is different (Glutamevit - 20 IU, Gendevit - 5 IU), Pregnavit - 10 IU, Mathern - 30 IU. Demand is the same - 10 IU. Overdose can cause hemorrhagic complications in organs due to dysfunction of platelets.

Bringing the consumption of vitamins A, C, E, B1, B2 to two or more times, we also increase our consumption of vitamin D. This is sufficient for development of vascular calcification in mother’s kidneys, calcification of placenta, child’s bones and skull. So hence we have the tendency of increase of pressure and kidney diseases in a mother, disruption of placental blood flow, traumas during childbirth. Pregnant women’s need in vitamin D - 600 IU per day. It is absolutely not necessary to take vitamin D, in our climate (for those who do not live in the Arctic), as a 30-minute walk provides production of “our own, internal” vitamin D. When individual correction, you can resort to food additives. For the rest, it can prevent cardiovascular and kidney diseases.

Folic acid in a dose of 400 mcg is undeniable as before pregnancy, and during it.

Given all the above, an ecological approach to the problem of a healthy baby is now actively reviving. With such scales as now, and pregnant women’s hypovitaminosis, - this beats on us and the baby. We should calculate doses of vitamins. Otherwise, we are threatened by growth of adult diseases (nervous, endocrine and immune system) in children.