Many women who are pregnant are recommended to take prenatal vitamins, which are vitamin supplements formulated with added amounts of certain key nutrients that will help maintain a healthy pregnancy and reduce the risk of certain birth defects. While eating a balanced diet is still essential to a healthy pregnancy, choosing to skip the prenatal vitamins may be associated with certain risks.
Inadequate Folate: Neural Tube Defects
According to the experts at the Mayo Clinic, one especially important nutrient found in prenatal vitamins is folate, or folic acid. This vitamin, which is one of the vitamin B subtypes, is crucial in preventing the formation of neural tube defects in the unborn baby. A neural tube defect is a significant abnormality that occurs either in the brain or the spinal cord of a baby. While taking folate does not guarantee that a baby will not have a neural tube defect, it does drastically reduce the risk of this potentially devastating condition. While regular multivitamins do contain folate, many prenatal vitamin formulations contain the extra amount needed by a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.
Inadequate Iron: Anemia
The mineral of iron is another essential part of a healthy pregnancy; pregnant women need more iron than usual to prevent the development of anemia. Anemia -- a decrease in the number of red blood cells circulating in the body -- is a problem in pregnancy, because the red blood cells deliver oxygen to the developing baby. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists emphasize that iron is also needed to produce the extra blood required to support a healthy pregnancy as well as produce the red blood cells needed by the developing baby.
Inadequate Calcium: Bone Weakness
Calcium is another essential nutrient for a healthy pregnancy. Calcium is important because it helps keep the bones of a pregnant woman healthy and also helps make the baby's bones strong and healthy. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that a pregnant woman should get at least 1000 mg of calcium per day; this is actually the same amount recommended for a woman who is not pregnant. Taking a prenatal vitamin may not provide the entire recommended amount, but it can help reach this nutritional goal and help ensure that both the pregnant woman and her unborn baby are as healthy as possible.
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