Does pregnancy increase blood pressure?

During pregnancy, due to certain changes in women's hormones, certain health problems may occur easily. For example, gestational hypertension is a common problem among pregnant women. Pregnant women must be very careful and control their high blood pressure during pregnancy, because high blood pressure will affect the development of the child. Here are some treatments for high blood pressure during pregnancy!

1. Reduce the intake of animal fat

Pregnant women with gestational hypertension should reduce their intake of animal fat. It is best to use vegetable oil as the main oil for cooking, 20 to 25 grams per day. The heating energy of saturated fatty acids (such as lard, beef tallow, coconut oil, palm oil, etc.) should be less than 10%.

2. Control the total amount of food intake

Excessive energy intake in the late pregnancy and rapid weekly weight gain are risk factors for gestational hypertension. Therefore, the energy intake of pregnant women should be enough to increase their body weight by 500 grams per week. For pregnant women who are already obese, it is advisable to gain 250 grams of weight per week.

3. Control sodium intake

Sodium salt plays an important role in preventing and treating hypertension. If you consume too much sodium every day, it will cause blood vessels to constrict and lead to increased blood pressure. Therefore, pregnant mothers with pregnancy-induced hypertension should limit their sodium intake to 3 to 5 grams per day. At the same time, stay away from foods with high salt content, such as: sauces, pickled products, smoked and dried products, pickles, pickled vegetables, canned products, fried foods, sausages, ham, etc. In addition, you should not consume too much soy sauce. 6 ml of soy sauce is approximately equal to 1 gram of salt. If pregnant mothers are accustomed to salty tastes, they can use low-sodium salt instead of regular table salt to improve the taste of low-salt cooking.

4. Protein Supplement

Pregnant women with severe gestational hypertension often have hypoproteinemia due to excessive protein loss in the urine. Therefore, high-quality protein, such as milk, fish, shrimp, eggs, etc., should be consumed in time to ensure the normal development of the fetus. The amount of protein supplemented daily can be up to 100 grams.

5. Supplement calcium-rich foods

Calcium not only helps the development of the fetus's bones and gums, but also stabilizes or lowers blood pressure. Pregnant women with gestational hypertension should eat more calcium-rich foods, such as dairy products, soy products, fish and shrimp.