Is it useful for pregnant women to check trace elements?

I believe that many people usually don’t pay much attention to the matter of checking trace elements, but pregnant women must pay attention to it, because if the body lacks certain vitamins and trace elements during pregnancy, it will lead to poor physical development of the baby. Although it will not cause any major trouble, it will affect the child’s overall physical health and even cause immune problems.

Should pregnant women fast when checking trace elements?

Whether it is a baby or an expectant mother, they all need to go to the hospital regularly for trace element checks. Although trace elements are very small in our human body, once they are lacking, the body will show various discomfort symptoms. We all know that trace elements are detected through blood. So, do pregnant women need to fast when checking trace elements?

There are three methods for checking trace elements in hospitals. The first is to draw blood from the finger, the second is to draw blood from the vein, and the last is to test the hair. Fasting is not required for these three tests. There is no need to prepare anything special, just eat and rest normally.

Trace element inspection method

1. Blood samples can be collected from venous blood or peripheral blood. The content of trace elements in the human body is low and is easily contaminated by various factors during the sample collection process. Therefore, special care must be taken when collecting trace element blood samples. In addition to the requirements for sample collection set out in the Ministry of Health's Technical Specifications for Clinical Testing of Blood Lead, special trace element test tubes that have passed regular spot checks must also be used, and the test tubes should be immediately sealed with inert and non-contamination materials to prevent the container itself from affecting the test results. Blood tests are easily contaminated, causing cross-infection, and are inconvenient to sample. They reflect the body's trace element status over a short period of time and are greatly affected by diet and disease. They are only used as clinical guidance.

2. Hair Human hair includes head hair, armpit hair, beard, chest hair, etc. Hair testing is the most widely used:

(1) Hair samples are easy to collect and preserve.

(2) For trace elements, the content in hair is higher than that in other parts of the human body such as blood, saliva, and urine due to accumulation, and it is also more stable and easier to analyze.

(3) Hair can reflect the nutritional status of trace elements in the past few weeks to months, and thus can truly reflect the storage status of trace elements.

(4) The protein structure of hair can combine with elements in the environment such as water and atmosphere. The binding force varies with various trace elements. Therefore, trace elements in hair can also serve as indicators of environmental pollution. It also shows that hair testing cannot represent the true level of trace elements in the body, and medical institutions generally do not use hair testing.