Sunday, July 22, 2012

Fat Soluble and B Vitamins: Why Animal Foods are Crucial for Your ...

Nutritional deficiencies during pregnancy are a common problem today. Most women begin their pregnancies lacking the vital nutrients that build healthy babies.

Most of us are malnourished and aren?t even aware of it. Common supermarket foods are marketed to make you think they are brimming with nutrients, but they really aren?t.

Conflicting messages about what you should or shouldn?t eat can become frustrating.?Look beyond the advice. What are the nutrients that your body and your baby really need? What foods are they found in? Have those foods been used traditionally, years before metabolic syndrome and heart disease became so common? They might look like traditional foods, but have they been genetically altered or raised properly?

One of the reasons why the Paleo diet is a beneficial nutrition plant to follow during? pregnancy is that it includes pastured and grass-fed animal foods. These products contain key nutrients for a successful pregnancy.

The Paleo Diet Builds Strong Babies With Fat Soluble and B Vitamins

The Paleo diet rejects conventional wisdom and follows the dietary advice of our ancestors. It includes nutrient-rich, unprocessed whole foods that are necessary for a baby?s healthy development.

The Paleo diet is packed with vital nutrients that help to avoid birth defects, premature birth, and neurological problems. Meats, fish, and eggs are loaded with vitamins A, D, E, K2, and B vitamins that can?t be provided by plants alone.

What Doesn?t Vitamin A Do?

Pregnant women are often told to avoid certain foods that are rich in vitamin A based on a study that found cranial-neural crest defects in babies born to mothers taking megadoses of vitamin A supplements.?Since then, there has been an overall fear of taking in too much vitamin A while you?re pregnant.

Vitamin A has many roles in fetal development. It supports healthy skin and mucus membranes, kidney function, the lining of the lungs, eye development, and more. Deficiencies are associated with a variety of developmental problems, including malformation of the heart, nervous system, skull, skeleton and limbs.

Beta carotene is a beneficial nutrient found in foods like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and carrots. It is an excellent antioxidant, but it?s no substitute for true vitamin A. The conversion of beta carotene to retinol isn?t very efficient, and varies from person to person.

The A Team: A, D, and K2

Vitamin A works with D and K2 to build and maintain healthy bones and teeth. A and D team up to transport calcium where it is needed. But in order to do their job, they need the support of a protein that must first be activated by vitamin K2.

K2 also activates another protein that keeps calcium from building up in the soft tissue of your arteries. Butter and cheese produced from grass-fed cows are good sources of K2.

Most Pregnant Women Are Deficient in Vitamin D

It is estimated that a shocking 40 to 80 percent of pregnant women are deficient in vitamin D. Research shows that a lack of vitamin D early on in life can lead to long-term health problems, including multiple sclerosis (MS), schizophrenia, heart disease, and cancer. Cod liver oil, butter from grass-fed cow dairy, and oily ocean fish (e.g. salmon, tuna, sardines) are several good sources of vitamin D.

LDL cholesterol [you know, the bad cholesterol ;-) ] is a precursor to vitamin D. It converts when sunlight hits your skin, so spending some time out in the sun definitely benefits your vitamin D status.

The sun is healthy when you?re smart about exposure: don?t stay out for long periods of time, especially during peak hours. You need only about 15 to 20 minutes for a good dose of D. And since it is fat soluble, your body can store it.

Ultraviolet light exposure during childhood correlates with a lower risk of prostate cancer later on in life. It also may lower the risk of developing non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma.

The Mystery Behind Vitamin E

Vitamin E is essential for reproduction. It has been named tocopherol, which comes from a Greek root word meaning ?childbirth?. Animal studies have shown that rats can?t reproduce without it, but this is something that?s not yet well understood. In humans, a vitamin E deficiency can lead to neurological issues.

B Vitamins and a Healthy Brain

It is well known that folic acid is important for reducing your baby?s risk of developing neural tube defects like spina bifida. Choline is another nutrient that is grouped in with the B vitamins, and also lowers the risk of these birth defects.

Getting plenty of choline in the diet during pregnancy is associated with enhanced memory and learning?benefits that will be enjoyed throughout your child?s life. Liver, egg yolks, and grass-fed dairy are good sources of choline.

Vitamin B12 is critical for a healthy pregnancy. Clinical deficiencies may cause infertility or recurrent miscarriages. Also, starting your pregnancy off with a B12 deficiency may increase the risk of neural tube defects and preterm delivery. Infants with low B12, which results from the mother?s low levels, can suffer brain atrophy and developmental regression.

In adults, a vitamin B12 deficiency can cause neurological damage. Plant foods don?t provide a good source of B12, only an analog. This analog can mask a deficiency, allowing nerve damage to continue undetected. Clams, liver, salmon, and grass-fed beef are several good sources of B12.

Fat soluble and B vitamins are essential to your child?s healthy development. Without them, risks of miscarriage, cognitive problems, deformities, and future health problems are increased. While the Standard American Diet recommends that you limit or exclude foods rich in these nutrients, the Paleo diet encourages you to include animal products on a regular basis, promoting fertility, a successful pregnancy, and a healthy baby.

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Source: http://paleopregnancyguide.com/2012/07/21/fat-soluble-and-b-vitamins-why-animal-foods-are-crucial-for-your-babys-healthy-development/

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