Anemia is common during pregnancy. Severe anemia in pregnancy is defined as haemoglobin of less than 40 g/l and is medical emergency. Eliminating severe anemia in pregnancy can reduce maternal disease burden.
Additional nutrients are needed during pregnancy for building tissue in the mother’s body especially for development of the breasts and womb, for the development of fetus. Since we may absorb as little as 10 % of the nutrition we eat, we must eat enough. During pregnancy, a woman needs to eat anti-anemia diet which consists of protein, iron, vitamin b-12, Vitamin C, folic acid. Besides, calcium is also useful.
A woman needs to take 50-70 grams of protein daily. Good sources of protein are skim milk, whole egg, soyabean, peas, oats, groundnuts.
She needs 30 milligrams of Iron daily. Oatmeal, boiled egg, cooked legumes, dark chocolate, milk, whole grain breads are rich in Iron.
Liver, kidney, lean meat, milk, eggs and cheese supply a fair amount of vitamin b 12. And tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, sweet potatoes, green and yellow vegetables are a good source of vitamin c.
Folic acid intake should be 600 micrograms daily. Sources of folic acid are bran, broccoli, spinach, nuts, peas.
Calcium requirement during pregnancy is around 1,200 milligrams daily and one can take milk, cheese, amarnath, drumstick leaves, millet, tapioca, spinach and colocasia for it.
A balanced diet plan for a woman during pregnancy—
Morning: One cup tea with nuts.
Breakfast- milk, bread butter, boiled egg and a banana.
Lunch- chapattis, rice, dal, curd, green vegetable, soup or salad
Evening- Roasted peanuts with tea/ fruits
Dinner- vegetable soup, chapattis, palak dal or paneer and dessert
Bed time- fruit or milk
The writer is senior nutritionist with B L Kapoor Hospital, Delhi