Contents:
- Medical Video: Nutrition & Fitness Before & During Pregnancy
- How much intake of choline is needed by pregnant women?
- What are the roles of choline in the body?
- What happens if you lack choline during pregnancy?
Medical Video: Nutrition & Fitness Before & During Pregnancy
Choline is one of the nutrients needed by the body. This nutrient is found in many types of food. In pregnant women, this nutrition not only provides nutrition for the mother, but also the fetus in the womb. So, how many pregnant women need choline and what are the consequences if they lack choline during pregnancy? Consider the following review.
How much intake of choline is needed by pregnant women?
Choline is a substance that is very similar in shape to the vitamin B group, although this substance is not included in the vitamin group. Actually the body has produced this substance, but the amount does not meet the needs so it needs to get extra from food.
Choline is found in foods that contain natural fats because in choline there are compounds that make up fat.
There are several choline-containing foods, such as beef liver, chicken meat, fish oil, eggs, kidney beans, soybeans, cauliflower, broccoli, sunflower seeds, mushrooms, spinach, brown rice, milk, and yogurt.
Choline needs between men and women are different. For women, the intake of choline that must be fulfilled every day is 425 milligrams (mg). However, the need increases during pregnancy, which is to become 450 milligrams of choline per day.
What are the roles of choline in the body?
Choline plays an important role in various systems in the body. When the need for choline is not fulfilled, symptoms of a weak body will appear, muscle aches, memory loss and focus, mood changes, even nerve damage. But for pregnant women, there are other possible dangers that can occur to the mother and fetus.
Choline mprotect the liver from fat buildup. Cholesterol and triglycerides are two forms of fat that often accumulate in the liver. With the presence of choline, these fats are transported to other parts of the body that need them so they don't accumulate.So, choline provides protection to the pregnant woman from the risk of fatty liver and other liver diseases later on.
During the third trimester of pregnancy, the volume of cells in the brain decreases. This condition can cause memory to be weakened so that the mother may often experience forgetting.
Fortunately, the body can minimize this effect with choline. Get additional choline from food, helping the fat to be absorbed better by the body to build cell membranes in the brain.
So, choline can prevent shrinking brain volume during pregnancy. In addition, the fetus that gets choline will have a very good memory.
What happens if you lack choline during pregnancy?
A study by the University of Illinois published in the Division of Nutritional Science shows that lack of choline during pregnancy causes disruption of fetal brain development.
According to the American Journal of Epidemiology, lack of choline during pregnancy can increase babies born with neural tube defects, such as spina bifida or anenchepaly.
In addition to working with vitamin B to support brain metabolism and function, choline also works with folic acid. So, these three nutrients need each other so that they can function properly in the body.
When pregnant women have low levels of folic acid, choline can be a substitute. Folic acid is needed during pregnancy to support the development of the fetus's brain and spinal cord.
Choline is also found in breast milk, this is the reason why pregnant and lactating mothers are important to fulfill their choline intake per day. Lack of choline, can reduce nutrients found in breast milk later.
