Nutritional advice for pregnant women changes: more fish and not too much soy | Inland

Fish contain important omega-3 fatty acids. Eating fish twice a week reduces the risk of premature birth. “But fish can be a difficult product for some pregnant women. Maybe they don’t like fish or they don’t feel like it if they suffer from morning sickness. If so, the advice is to take a supplement of 250 to 450 milligrams of DHA. And the fish does not necessarily have to be a hot meal, you can also have trout or plaice on a sandwich during lunch,” says Nutrition and Health expert Iris Groenenberg of the Nutrition Center.

Pregnant women are busy making a whole new person, according to the Wheel of Five healthy and varied food is always important, says Groenenberg. “But during pregnancy just a little extra. The expectant mothers really don’t have to leave everything behind, but they do have to be careful with certain products.”

Lever

For example, the Health Council has listed all available and recent studies and it is once again clear that eating liver can be harmful. It contains too much vitamin A, which can lead to abnormalities in the baby’s skull and nervous system, for example. “Eating a large pate once can be harmful,” explains the expert. “So if you, as a pregnant woman, would like to consume pâté or liver sausage spread, spread it very thinly on a sandwich and at most once a week.” If you take multivitamins, it is a good idea to choose a supplement that is especially intended for pregnant women. Other supplements may contain too much vitamin A.

New is the attention for the isoflavones; these substances can be found in soy in particular. “There are a lot of soy products on the shelves these days. But with too much of it, the baby’s genitals may not develop properly; do not take more than 4 glasses/bowls (150 ml) of soy drink/yogurt per day. In addition, eat other soy products, such as tofu, no more than twice a week,” advises Groenenberg.

Dairy

The importance of sufficient calcium, iodine and iron was already known, but the Health Council now recommends taking a calcium supplement of 1000 micrograms per day from 20 weeks of pregnancy if it is not possible to eat enough dairy. Groenenberg refers to the website of the Nutrition Center where an online food diary can be filled in, whereby this ‘Eating meter’ indicates whether you are taking enough iodine and calcium. “Calcium, for example, is important for the bone formation of the baby and too little of it can lead to high blood pressure, preeclampsia and premature birth. Iodine is important for the growth and development of the baby’s brain in the abdomen; the council recommends 200 micrograms per day. If you don’t get that through your diet, it is advised to supplement this with a supplement.”

On the website of the Nutrition Center you will find more information about the other advice: from folic acid to vitamin D and from caffeine to herbal tea. And in the ZwangerHap app you can look up whether a product is safe to eat.

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