50 Foods Every Pregnant Woman Should Eat

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Most people are already very familiar with the foods that pregnant women must avoid – alcohol, excess caffeine, raw seafood, and the like – but few take pause to think about what they should consume. Experts generally recommend that pregnant women stick with the portions recommended by the USDA’s Food Pyramid guidelines, with specific boosts to certain nutrients such as iron, folic acid, fiber, Vitamin C, protein, calcium, Vitamin A, magnesium, and a few others.

These extremely valuable substances help both mother and child healthy and safe by promoting blood flow, building tissues in the brain and other organs, fortifying the immune system, strengthening bones and teeth, allowing for better vitamin absorption, and numerous other benefits. The following foods ought to find their way into a pregnancy diet, even if some of them must be ingested in moderation or within certain parameters.

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Baby New Year?

If getting pregnant is high on your list of resolutions for 2010, be sure to read this quick guide for conceiving and having a healthy baby before you reach the point of no return...

There's more to conceiving a healthy baby than "sperm meets egg." To reduce the risks of miscarriage and birth defects and to promote your fetus's health, you're going to want healthy sperm from a healthy dad-to-be to meet a healthy egg in a healthy mom-to-be.

• Get preconception checkups
• Follow a healthy diet
• Take folic acid supplements
• Watch your weight
• Get proper exercise
• Avoid alcoholic beverages and don't smoke
• Reduce stress

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Conception know-how tips to help you fast track fertility

An estimated 11 million couples in the U.S. are currently trying to conceive and millions more are starting to think about it.

FACT OR FICTION? The longer it takes you to get pregnant, the more likely you are to conceive a boy.
FACT OR FICTION? A woman in her early 20s not using birth control has a 50 percent chance of getting pregnant each month.
FACT OR FICTION? Saliva is the most fertility friendly lubricant to use when you're TTC (trying to conceive)
FACT OR FICTION? Boxers are a better bet than briefs when you're TTC.
FACT OR FICTION? Laptops can impair sperm production.
FACT OR FICTION? It's best to take a home pregnancy test first thing in the morning.
FACT OR FICTION? The average couple conceives within three months of trying.
FACT OR FICTION? The more sex you have during your fertile days, the more likely you are to conceive.

Heidi Murkoff's brand-new book, WHAT TO EXPECT BEFORE YOU'RE EXPECTING is the must-have, step-by-step preconception plan every couple needs before they're expecting.

Read more: http://www.abc15.com/content/living/familylife/story/Conception-know-how-tips-to-help-you-fast-track/SsN6Y_FmWEOS74LaqOROmQ.cspx

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The importance of folate, zinc and antioxidants

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The importance of folate, zinc and antioxidants in the pathogenesis and prevention of subfertility

UV radiation destroys folic acid, a precursor for folate, the lack of which may result in birth defects.

Current treatments of subfertile couples are usually empiric, as the true cause of subfertility often remains unknown. Therefore, we outline the role of nutritional and biochemical factors in reproduction and subfertility. A literature search was performed using MEDLINE, Science Direct and bibliographies of published work with both positive and negative results.

The studies showed that folate has a role in spermatogenesis. In female reproduction, folate is also important for oocyte quality and maturation, implantation, placentation, fetal growth and organ development. Zinc has also been implicated in testicular development, sperm maturation and testosterone synthesis.

In females, zinc plays a role in sexual development, ovulation and the menstrual cycle. Both folate and zinc have antioxidant properties that counteract reactive oxygen species (ROS). Thiols, such as glutathione, balance the levels of ROS produced by spermatozoa and influence DNA compaction and the stability and motility of spermatozoa. Oocyte maturation, ovulation, luteolysis and follicle atresia are also affected by ROS.

After fertilization, glutathione is important for sperm nucleus decondensation and pronucleus formation. Folate, zinc, ROS and thiols affect apoptosis, which is important for sperm release, regulation of follicle atresia, degeneration of the corpus luteum and endometrial shedding.

Therefore, the concentrations of these nutrients may have substantial effects on reproduction. In conclusion, nutritional and biochemical factors affect biological processes in male and female reproduction. Further research should identify pathways that may lead to improvements in care and treatment of subfertility.

Read more: http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2009/04/folate_fertility_skin_color.php?utm_source=sbhomepage&utm_medium=link&utm_content=channellink

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Vitamin B 'helps men father healthy children'

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Men who eat a diet rich in green vegetables, fruit and lentils have a higher chance of fathering a healthy child, scientists said today.

In the first study to investigate the effects of diet on sperm quality, American scientists found that high levels of vitamin B reduced the number of abnormalities that can lead to children being born with conditions such as Down's syndrome.

It may lead to recommendations for men as well as women to take folic acid before trying to conceive.

Women are encouraged to take supplements of vitamin B, which occurs naturally as folate in leafy green vegetables, pulses and some fruits, and synthetically as folic acid, in order to protect the unborn foetus from certain birth defects.

If the findings of the study, which was carried out by a team from University of California, in Berkeley, are confirmed scientists may recommend men take folic acid for at least three months before trying to conceive.

But study authors said they cannot be sure that it is the high intake of folate that leads directly to fewer sperm abnormalities and it may be that the men were generally healthier.

The study, based on 89 healthy men is published in the journal, Human Reproduction.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/03/20/eababy120.xml

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Folic acid supplementation affects the maturing oocyte

Preconception folic acid treatment affects the microenvironment of the maturing oocyte in humans.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of folic acid supplementation on the follicular fluid concentrations of folate and total homocysteine and their relationship to the diameter of the follicle.

SETTING: Tertiary referral fertility clinic at the Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

PATIENT(S): Thirty-seven women undergoing IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment.

INTERVENTION(S): No interventions other than routine stimulation treatment and the recommendation of folic acid supplementation.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Concentrations of folate and total homocysteine in monofollicular and pooled follicular fluid and the diameter of the follicle.

RESULT(S): Folic acid supplementation significantly increased folate and decreased total homocysteine concentrations in pooled follicular fluid. In monofollicular fluid, folate concentrations only were significantly increased in supplemented women. The total homocysteine concentration appeared to be significantly correlated with the diameter of the follicle (r = 0.27). Samples from single follicles were less prone to artifacts in the measurements of the folate and total homocysteine concentration.

CONCLUSION(S): Preconception folic acid supplementation significantly alters both folate and total homocysteine concentrations in follicular fluid. The correlation between the diameter of the follicle and total homocysteine concentration in follicular fluid warrants further investigation.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?tmpl=NoSidebarfile&db=PubMed&cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=17923130&dopt=AbstractPlus