Pregnant Nutrition

4 Proven Health Benefits of Prunes During Pregnancy

Eating lots of nutritious food like benefits of cabbage during pregnancy is very necessary for meeting the nutritional needs of the mother’s body and the little one in the womb.

Balanced nutrition is not only obtained from animals, but also a lot from vegetable sources and that is why, an abundance of good fruit and vegetable intake for pregnant women is needed.

Diligently consuming fruit that is good for pregnant women is an absolute must. According to data from The Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development, mothers who eat fruit during pregnancy will tend to give birth to their baby who is smarter than mothers who eat little or no fruit. 

From there, it was found that pregnant women who eat six to seven servings of fruit or fruit juice per day will give birth to the baby who has the ability to be six to seven points higher on the traditional IQ scale than the estimate should be at the age of a child. 

The study found that one of the biggest predictors of a child’s cognitive development was influenced by how much the mother ate fruit during pregnancy.

The higher the development of the little one’s intelligence, especially when the mom consumes other healthy intake from milk as well, like the benefits of cashew milk.

In addition, in the health journal from Journal EbioMedicine, researchers also found that more fruit consumption during pregnancy gave birth to healthier babies in developmental testing when your little one reached 12 months of age. 

When you reach 12 weeks of pregnancy or the second trimester, you really need about twice as many vitamins and minerals as usual because at this time, the fetus undergoes a process of forming organs such as the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, and even brain tissue.

If this intake is lacking, it will have an impact on the little one’s growth and development process, which no one would’ve wanted.

Thus, special attention needs to be paid to the intake of vegetables and fruits that are good for pregnant women so that your little one can grow and develop optimally. So, don’t hesitate to eat fruits during your pregnancy so that the fetus’s health is maintained.

Previously we talked about how great the dried prunes are as a healthy snack to be consumed everyday. And just like the benefits of eating dried raisins, the dried form of this fruit doesn’t lack any useful nutrition.

The good amount of nutrition is also needed by pregnant moms for supporting their health and their babies’. And here’s the benefits of prunes to be consumed during pregnancy:

1. Maintain a stable weight

Carbohydrates in prunes are a type of fruit sugar that is relatively low in concentration and this makes prunes a suitable alternative to reduce excess calories, one of which is to prevent excessive weight gain. But remember, these benefits apply to fresh prunes, not the dried ones.

So be sure to have some during your breakfast and lunch to provide another blast of energy for the day. And just like having the benefits of macadamia milk, always remember to consume them normally to avoid an excessive sugar level that could lead to other serious problems.

2. Prevent anemia

The importance of iron is often overlooked by pregnant women even tough the fact that with the proper intake of iron supplements, iron deficiency anemia and the risk during childbirth (including postpartum bleeding) will decrease, making sure a good future for the young generation.

Choosing the nutritional content in foods that are good for your little one is one of the things pregnant women pay most attention to. Minerals are nutrients that you should not forget to consume and one of the minerals that are important for you is iron.

Iron functions to form red blood cells that produce hemoglobin, which is a protein in red blood cells that functions to carry oxygen to all parts of the body.

Iron deficiency is one of the most common symptoms of nutritional deficiency and this causes a decrease in hemoglobin, which is called anemia. The need for iron also increases for the growth of the baby, placenta, and others.

Although iron absorption increases during pregnancy, most pregnant women do not take iron supplements that can meet these increased needs, especially in the second and third trimesters.

And that’s why they need a more healthy alternative, which is consuming the fruits. Consuming prunes can help you overcome this, because they are rich in iron which is important in the process of making red blood cells.

3. Prevent constipation

Fiber is really needed by the human body, especially pregnant women, because fiber can prevent constipation or constipation which is common in pregnant women.

Consumption of fibrous foods for pregnant women is very important to maintain digestive health during pregnancy so they won’t have any problem when doing their “toilet business”.

Based on many researches, fiber is an excellent compound that keeps you full without adding extra calories to the body and they can be found mostly in vegetables like benefits of cucumber juice, and fruits.

Having sufficient fiber in your diet ensures a healthy, well-functioning digestive system as it helps the body eliminate waste that can be harmful to the body.

Fortunately, the fiber content in prunes is good for the digestive process so that this fruit can stimulate the digestive tract to make bowel movements smoother and prevent constipation.

4. Prevent premature birth

Many mothers who give birth prematurely are not aware that they are deficient in magnesium, which can play an important role in fertility and pregnancy.

At the beginning of giving birth, magnesium is also very useful because the problems you are experiencing can be overcome with magnesium supplements.

The relatively high concentration of magnesium in prunes can also reduce the risk of premature contractions and this benefit is obtained by helping to relax the cervical muscles.