VEGAN DIET BEHIND TROUBLED PREGNANCY? HERE’S WHAT RESEARCHERS THINK

Thu 07 December 2023:

According to researchers, more than 90 per cent of women who have been trying to conceive a baby have marginal or low levels of vitamins which are important for a healthy pregnancy and the problem is worsening with the growing popularity of vegetarian diets.

The tests were carried out on more than 1,700 women in Singapore, New Zealand and the United Kingdom who have been planning to conceive. In these tests, it was found that most of them were lacking nutrients which are found in abundance in dairy and meat products and are important for healthy development of foetus.

“We were surprised at how common low or marginal status was for these micronutrients,” said Prof Keith Godfrey, who is the lead author of the study at the University of Southampton and an epidemiologist.

“For the individual, the simple answer is that unless you’re following a really high-quality diet, you may need to consider taking a supplement,” he added, as reported by The Guardian.

Are supplements, and probiotics good options to increase the level of nutrients?

The women, who were between the age group of 18 to 38, were included in the Nipper study – which is an international trial that has been exploring whether combinations of nutrients as well as probiotics taken before and during pregnancy help in improving the health of the babies and their mothers.

The blood levels of vital nutrients were measured by the doctors after the women were recruited and they were randomly assigned to either a standard vitamin supplement for pregnant women which contains folic acid, beta-carotene, iron, calcium and iodine, and an enhanced version which contained additional riboflavin, vitamins B6, B12 and D, probiotics, zinc and myo-inositol, which is a form of sugar.

According to a report in Plos Medicine, before conceiving, marginal or low levels of folate, riboflavin, vitamin B12 or vitamin D were found in nine out of 10 women and many suffered from vitamin B6 deficiency in late pregnancy.

The supplements were found to improve vitamin levels in women, although not always to sufficient levels. “More work needs to be done to identify the ideal quantities, but certainly the amounts we gave, which you can purchase over the counter at the chemist, were sufficient to substantially reduce the prevalence of deficiency,” said Godfrey.

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