Eaten ≠ Delivered · density, absorption, and the placenta

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Developmental Programming
What you eat is not automatically what reaches the fetus: the amount in the food, absorption in the gut, transfer across the placenta and individual differences all have to line up. Too much is harmful too: taking more than about 10,000 IU a day of preformed vitamin A from supplements in pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of birth defects. What the nutrients do to the child over the following decades, once delivered, is the question developmental programming answers.
Pregnancy & Lactation
Whether a nutrient gets delivered is one question and how much of each to eat is another; only together do they become practical. Take fish: the US FDA and EPA advise pregnant women to eat 8–12 ounces (about 225–340 g) of lower-mercury fish a week while avoiding the highest-mercury kinds, such as shark and swordfish.

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Eating a lot isn't eating well

EVIDENCEREVIEW 1

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Eating more during pregnancy does not mean the baby gets enough nutrition. The line heard most often in Chinese pregnancy care is eat more, build the baby up. But if the extra food is white rice, braised pork and rich soup, calories are easy to reach while micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) can still fall far short.

The yardstick for this is nutrient density: how many vitamins and minerals come packed into each calorie. A pregnant woman can gain plenty of weight and still be short on what matters.

Eating the right foods is only the starting point. Between the mouth and the baby there are three more gates: whether the gut can absorb it, whether the placenta passes it on, and whether the body can use it.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

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Eaten ≠ Delivered · density, absorption, and the placenta

Story

Connected to · 2

cofactor · 2

Developmental Programming
What you eat is not automatically what reaches the fetus: the amount in the food, absorption in the gut, transfer across the placenta and individual differences all have to line up. Too much is harmful too: taking more than about 10,000 IU a day of preformed vitamin A from supplements in pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of birth defects. What the nutrients do to the child over the following decades, once delivered, is the question developmental programming answers.
Pregnancy & Lactation
Whether a nutrient gets delivered is one question and how much of each to eat is another; only together do they become practical. Take fish: the US FDA and EPA advise pregnant women to eat 8–12 ounces (about 225–340 g) of lower-mercury fish a week while avoiding the highest-mercury kinds, such as shark and swordfish.

Read full story

Stop 1/6

Eating a lot isn't eating well

EVIDENCEREVIEW 1

READ THE ORIGINAL

Eating more during pregnancy does not mean the baby gets enough nutrition. The line heard most often in Chinese pregnancy care is eat more, build the baby up. But if the extra food is white rice, braised pork and rich soup, calories are easy to reach while micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) can still fall far short.

The yardstick for this is nutrient density: how many vitamins and minerals come packed into each calorie. A pregnant woman can gain plenty of weight and still be short on what matters.

Eating the right foods is only the starting point. Between the mouth and the baby there are three more gates: whether the gut can absorb it, whether the placenta passes it on, and whether the body can use it.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.