Nutritional needs during pregnancy rally boil down to deficiencies. You need to know what nutrients you’re not getting enough of, and figure out how to make up the difference. Some particular nutrients tend to be lacking in the modern diet, and they are especially important for pregnancy. Folic acid and iron are two of the most common deficiencies, although there are often others. That’s why prenatal vitamins tend to focus on certain nutrients. Folic acid, for example, reduces the risk that your baby will have certain kinds of birth defects. Iron helps with blood supply to your baby.

Other vitamins – such as Vitamin A – are also important during pregnancy. In fact, one of the most common nutrients you’ll find in just about any prenatal vitamin is Vitamin A. There are several reasons for this, and Vitamin A provides a number of important functions in terms of your baby’s growth and development.

Specifically, it is believed that Vitamin A will:

• Play an important role in cell differentiation, helping with development.
• Prevent certain birth defects, particularly those relate to lung function.
• Boost your baby’s immune system, helping to prevent the development of respiratory infections.

Some studies over the past several years have caused some women to wonder about Vitamin A. There was a study that suggests too much Vitamin A can be a problem during pregnancy. The idea was that it is possible to get to much Vitamin A.

Whether or not that’s the case is debatable. The fact of the matter is that most women just don’t get enough Vitamin A to begin with, and even with a prenatal vitamin aren’t especially likely to develop an overdose of the vitamin.

The other aspect to the Vitamin A overdose issue is this: prenatal vitamins don’t normally contain raw Vitamin A. They contain beta carotene. Your body actually converts the beta carotene to Vitamin A on an as-needed basis. That means you’re never going to have more Vitamin A in your system than what your body believes it needs.

Posted in Pregnancy

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