How many months should pregnant women take calcium supplements

Pregnant women will go through several stages after pregnancy, early pregnancy, mid-pregnancy and late pregnancy. Pregnancy is in the early stage. At this time, the pregnancy reaction is still obvious, and you will feel nauseous, vomiting, dizzy, and want to sleep. However, because of the symptoms of knowing people, you feel that you can't sleep. But after finally getting through this period, you will enter the mid-pregnancy and late pregnancy. The body will also have different symptoms. As an expectant mother, you need to supplement the body with nutrition. How many months does a pregnant woman start to supplement calcium?

When should pregnant women start taking calcium supplements?

The early pregnancy is the period when the embryo's tissues and organs are formed. The nutritional status of the pregnant mother is crucial to the continued growth and normal development of the fetus. At this time, the calcium requirement of pregnant women is roughly the same as that of normal people, so there is no need for special calcium supplementation.

Calcium supplementation starts in the second trimester. At this time, pregnant mothers can eat some easily digestible foods, such as biscuits, steamed buns, toast, cakes, etc., and eat more water-rich vegetables and fruits to replenish water, vitamin C, B vitamins and inorganic salts such as calcium and potassium, which can reduce the feeling of discomfort during pregnancy.

How to supplement calcium for pregnant women

1. Maintain appropriate amount of outdoor activities: Vitamin D can regulate calcium and phosphorus metabolism and promote calcium absorption. Outdoor activities can get more sunlight, and as long as you spend more than half an hour outdoors in sufficient sunlight every day, you can synthesize enough vitamin D. However, overdose may cause side effects such as loss of appetite, fatigue, arrhythmia, nausea, and vomiting.

2. Reduce the intake of oxalic acid: After pregnancy, many pregnant mothers begin to pay attention to eating more vegetables and fruits. However, some astringent vegetables contain oxalic acid, which can combine with calcium in the intestines to form insoluble precipitates, affecting calcium absorption. Therefore, it is recommended that pregnant mothers eat 500-750 grams of vegetables and fruits every day. You can also blanch these vegetables in water to remove the astringency before cooking.

3. Reduce the intake of phytic acid, such as rice and white flour: the phytic acid contained in rice and white flour combines with calcium in the digestive tract to produce phytic acid calcium magnesium salt that cannot be absorbed by the human body, greatly reducing the body's absorption of calcium. Therefore, pregnant mothers can soak the rice in an appropriate amount of warm water for a while, so that the phytase in the rice will decompose most of the phytic acid; and the phytase secreted by the fermented pasta can also hydrolyze the phytic acid in the flour, avoiding affecting the body's absorption of calcium.

4. Reduce the intake of phosphoric acid: carbonated drinks, cola, coffee, hamburgers, etc.: Under normal circumstances, the calcium: phosphorus ratio in the human body is 2:1. However, if pregnant mothers consume too much carbonated drinks, cola, coffee, hamburgers, pizza, animal liver, French fries and other foods containing a lot of phosphorus, the calcium: phosphorus ratio will be as high as 1:10-20. In this way, excessive phosphorus will "drive" calcium out of the body.

4. Reduce the intake of fatty acids and oily foods: Fatty acids (especially saturated fatty acids) decomposed from fat can form insoluble substances with calcium in the gastrointestinal tract, reducing the absorption rate of calcium. Therefore, pregnant mothers should arrange their meals reasonably and avoid eating too greasy food.