During pregnancy, 30% of pregnant mothers will be deficient in calcium, how to pick calcium tablets? Listen to expert answers

May 8, 2022 is Mother's Day, pregnancy is the starting point to become a mother, with the improvement of living conditions, everyone is more and more concerned about the nutritional status of pregnant mothers and nursing mothers. However, if there is no "rule" in nutritional supplementation, the traditional concept of "eating well" does not mean "making up well", especially in the choice of calcium supplementation, there is more "said". On the eve of Mother's Day, the Yangtze Evening News/ Purple Cow News reporter visited the market to understand the misunderstanding of pregnant women and nursing mothers for nutritional supplements, especially calcium supplementation, and also invited nutrition experts for detailed guidance.

Market Visit:

Many pregnant women have symptoms before they think of calcium supplementation

At the Simcere ZaiKang Hongwu Road store, pregnant woman Ms. Li is choosing nutritional supplements. "I'm 33 weeks pregnant and I've been feeling a little cramped in my legs lately, so I'm here to buy some calcium tablets." Ms. Li said, "But when I went to the pharmacy, I found that there are many calcium tablet products, and I don't know which one to choose." ”

In the random interview of the reporter, for calcium supplementation, pregnant women have many questions: there is calcium in the vitamin tablets that are usually eaten, is it enough? If you make up too much, will there be placental aging? Once you take calcium tablets, constipation is more serious, what to do?

Li Zhikun, a practicing pharmacist at the Xiansheng and KanghongWu Road store, told the Yangtze Evening News reporter that in the pharmacy, pregnant women consult more about folic acid, some traditional Chinese medicines and bird's nest and other health care products, and they are not particularly familiar with nutritional supplements such as calcium, and many people will wait until they have symptoms such as leg cramps.

Expert guidance:

In the middle and third trimester of pregnancy, 30% of pregnant women will be deficient in calcium

Dai Yongmei, director of the Nutrition Department of Nanjing Maternal and Child Health Hospital, told the Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter that calcium is the most important component of the human body and the inorganic element with the highest content. In the early stages of pregnancy, because the fetus is relatively slow, the amount of calcium required by pregnant women is no different from that of ordinary people, about 800 mg per day. In the second and third trimesters, with the rapid development of fetal bones and gums, the demand for calcium increases, and the daily intake needs to reach 1000 mg. For pregnant mothers, the more in the middle and third trimester of pregnancy, the higher the requirements for calcium supplementation. Statistically, about 30% of pregnant women will experience calcium deficiency in the second and third trimesters.

After the fetus gives birth, the process of breastfeeding will still take 200-300 mg of calcium from the milk every day, if the nursing woman does not pay attention to calcium supplementation, this part of the "gap" will be "mobilized" from the mother's bone to make up for it. This is also the reason why some women experience a significant decrease in bone mineral density after the end of lactation. "So our suggestion is that pregnant mothers should start to supplement calcium from pregnancy until the end of lactation, so as to effectively protect the bone health of fertile women."

Director Dai Yongmei was interviewed

Bone broth alone cannot make up for the calcium gap

Regarding calcium supplementation during pregnancy, the public has many questions and many misunderstandings. "Many pregnant mothers have symptoms of calf cramps in the middle of the night, which is actually a manifestation of a decline in blood calcium." For pregnant mothers, don't wait until symptoms appear to think of consulting calcium supplementation. "Dai Yongmei said that there are also old people who feel that pregnant women feel that it is okay to drink more bone soup and eat more spinach tofu with calcium, which is not entirely correct." We recommend pregnant women to eat supplements, if there is a lack of calcium on the basis of food supplements, you must choose calcium preparations to supplement. Dai Yongmei instructed that expectant mothers in the middle and late stages of pregnancy, it is best to drink 300-500 ml of milk per day, eat fish and shrimp 3-4 times a week, often eat some soy products and vegetables with high calcium content, on this basis, small doses of supplementation of 300-600 mg of calcium per day is safer and appropriate.

"There are also some pregnant mothers who are worried that there is too much calcium supplementation, the placenta will age in advance, or the child's skull will grow hard and not good, in fact, it is more worrying." Director Dai Yongmei said that the upper limit of calcium intake recommended by the Nutrition Society for pregnant women is 2,000 mg per day, and daily small dose supplementation will not exceed the upper limit and is safe.

Calcium supplementation can cause constipation? Find a "helper" for calcium

Some pregnant mothers and novice mothers are very aware of calcium supplementation, but after eating calcium tablets, symptoms such as acid reflux and constipation have come. Especially in the third trimester, it is easy to constipate, eat calcium tablets and "blood on the frost", so what to do? Director Dai Yongmei said that the side effects of calcium supplementation such as calcium acid reflux, belching, and constipation can actually be avoided.

"Our calcium preparations have gone through roughly three generations." Director Dai Yongmei told the Yangtze Evening News / Purple Cow News reporter that the first generation of calcium tablets is now also very common calcium carbonate, its biggest feature is that it requires stomach acid to participate in dissolution, if the pregnant woman itself is deficient in stomach acid, after taking calcium carbonate tablets, it is easy to appear stomach fullness, hiccups, belching, constipation and other symptoms of indigestion. The second generation of calcium preparations become calcium gluconate, calcium citrate and other organic calcium, digestion and absorption do not rely on stomach acid, take the feeling is much better. The third-generation calcium preparation is usually a combination of two organic acids such as malic acid and citric acid and calcium, which has higher absorption efficiency and no stimulation to the gastrointestinal tract.

In addition, calcium preparations will also add some ingredients that promote calcium absorption, such as vitamin D, casein phosphopeptide and so on. "All of our calcium intake must be dissociated into calcium ions before they can be absorbed, but some of the calcium ions will recombine in the small intestine and phosphoric acid to become insoluble calcium phosphate, and then deposited. For example, casein phosphopeptides can block this binding process, promote calcium absorption, and promote the absorption of trace elements such as iron, zinc, and copper. Director Dai Yongmei also suggested that when women during pregnancy choose calcium preparations, while choosing a regular brand, they should also study the formula table, and can choose calcium tablets with calcium-promoting agent components such as calcium citrate malate and calcium-promoting peptides such as casein phosphate, which are better absorbed and make calcium supplementation unburdened.

Yangzi Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Yang Yan

Proofread by Faye Wong

Editor : Pan Zheng