Why calcium is essential during pregnancy period?

Basically, calcium is an essential part of every person's nutrition needs. It is very much needed in order to sustain the development of the bones and the muscles, helps the blood to clot properly and ensures normal heart rate. During pregnancy, the calcium needs of a woman increases as there is another being that needs to be sustained of its calcium requirement and that is the baby. Calcium plays an important role to pregnancy to make sure that the baby grows and develop properly while inside the womb.

During pregnancy, the normally required amount of calcium intake per day of 1,000 milligram increases to 1,200 milligram. This is in answer to the needs of the baby inside the womb for its development. When the calcium in the body is not sufficient enough to meet the needs of the baby, the calcium stored in the mother's bone is used, therefore can create health risk to the mother on bone health related problems later in life.

In order to address this, 1,200 milligram of calcium must be supplied to the body daily. Calcium can be driven from dairy products such as milk, yogurt and cheese. Another option is to eat green leafy vegetables that are rich in calcium such as broccoli and acorn squash. If you are not consistent on this, you may ask your doctor to prescribed you with prenatal vitamins that has calcium component.

Aside from strengthening the bones and ensuring normal functioning of the nerves, muscles and the heart, having sufficient calcium during pregnancy has been discovered to lower the amount of lead that may be present in the blood. Lead exposure poses great hazard to the health of the baby in the womb as it may cause growth and developmental problems that are often damaging and irreversible. Some of the health problems that lead exposure can create are miscarriage, low birth weight, low motor and visual skills and low intelligence scores.

In a study that has been conducted by the University of Michigan, based on the result of supplying the respondents with calcium supplement over a certain period, about 31% of the lead level in the blood decreased compared to those who were given placebo.

Having a balanced and nutritious diet is the key to having a healthy pregnancy. If you think that calcium may be lacking to your daily meals, you may ask your physician to prescribe you the calcium supplement to complete your daily nutrition needs.




Riza C. Belgira is health enthusiast and an advocate of strengthening women's health and well-being through informative health resources and articles.

Visit her web site and explore informative and useful tips on 4d scans, pregnancy, dieting and weight loss at http://www.4d-ultrasoundscan.co.uk/.