Calcium during pregnancy is one of the most necessary minerals. It not only is a kind of building material for the skeleton of the fetus and protects it subsequently from the development of rickets, but also helps the mother easier to cope with stress. In addition, reduces the risk of miscarriages, premature birth and reduces blood loss during the birth process. It is calcium that significantly affects the state of the circulatory system, the work of the kidneys, which in this situation is especially important, because during pregnancy the load on them increases. This element supports the normal functioning of the muscle system, which ensures proper reduction in uterus during childbirth, as well as good work of the heart muscle. Moreover, the normal content of calcium in the body is important not only during pregnancy, but also before its onset, since it also affects the process of fertilization itself.
How to understand that calcium is not enough during pregnancy, and what its excess leads to?
First of all, the lack of calcium during pregnancy is expressed in problems with her teeth in a woman, in fragility of nails, poor hair, peeling and dry skin, and leg cramps.
At the same time, some women, experiencing that there is not enough calcium in their body, while taking into account their special state of pregnancy, begin to intensively try to replenish the deficiency of this mineral, eating the kilograms of cottage cheese and drinking liters of milk. Moreover, various vitamin-mineral complexes accepted without consulting a doctor are often in progress. In this case, the probability of overdoing is high, but the excess of calcium in the body during pregnancy can be no less harmful than its lack. This can lead to the formation of stones in the gall and bladder, kidneys. In addition, in this situation, excessive consumption of calcium interferes with the normal absorption of magnesium, and this mineral is also very important during pregnancy, since its deficiency can lead to malfunctions in the work of the cardiovascular, muscle and nervous systems.
The daily need of the body for calcium during pregnancy and the path of its satisfaction
Calcium during pregnancy in a woman’s body should receive about one and a half thousand milligrams daily. Moreover, from this amount, the fetus in the first trimester consumes two or three milligrams, and in the third-significantly more-up to two hundred and three hundred milligrams per day, which is explained by the intensity of the processes of the formation of the skeleton, internal organs, connective tissue, as well as the eyes, skin, nails and hair.
Calcium with proper and healthy diet, and so enters the body in the quantity necessary for the normal course of pregnancy. Its main sources are, first of all, green vegetables, nuts and, of course, dairy products. Among dairy products, yogurt, natural yogurts without dyes and preservatives, as well as low -fat cheeses are most useful in this regard. In addition, if the use of legumes is normally tolerated, it is worth remembering that in beans, for example, there are many calcium. In addition, we note that it is also useful to replenish calcium reserves in the body intensively consumed during pregnancy, rye bread and fruits.
The use of drugs containing calcium is not always advisable. In any case, you should start taking them only after consulting a doctor, since self -medication is unacceptable at all, and during pregnancy is so especially.
What products can interfere with the assimilation of calcium, including during pregnancy
The absorption of calcium in the body worsens, mainly those products whose use should be minimized during pregnancy. First of all, these are pasta, sweets, white bread, salty and fatty dishes, coffee, cocoa, carbonated drinks. Sometimes they also do not recommend that the bran, semolina.
In addition to food products, you should pay attention to your own lifestyle. Excesses are harmful here in one and the other. And a sedentary lifestyle, and, conversely, too active physical activity (which, however, are so unacceptable during pregnancy), can prevent the normal absorption of calcium. You should also necessarily refuse such a bad habit as smoking.