Written By: Debjani Arora | Published : October 13, 2017 3:38 PM IST
We are not talking about the anabolic protein supplements taken by athletes or fitness enthusiasts. There is a huge debate among experts from the medical and fitness world if taking anabolic protein supplements like Whey protein is safe during pregnancy. We are talking about the regular protein powders and supplements that you get over-the-counter or through prescription. I am sure if your doctor would recommend you to have a supplement or powder you might take it without giving a second thought. I was also prescribed a protein powder during both my pregnancies, but I wasn t disciplined enough to have them regularly. As my own research showed that I wasn t doing my baby or me much harm by not taking protein supplements. Here are eight common mistakes every pregnant woman makes and why they need to stop.
Now, one needs to increase protein intake during pregnancy by 25 gm to meet the needs of the growing fetus and the body. This isn t a huge number you can have this extra protein in your diet through adding two bowls of dal or lentil in your regular diet, having adequate dairy products and eggs, or eating non-vegetarian foods like two pieces of fish or grilled chicken breasts. So, it is possible to up your protein intake through diet without being dependent on external protein sources. This is one reason why I wanted to give the protein powders a miss. But most doctors prescribe one with your regular antenatal vitamins, folic acid tablets and calcium supplements. In India, it is very common to find expectant mothers malnourished or be lower on the nutritional scale and so supplementations add to their nutritional needs and boost fetal growth as well. Here is all you need to know about your baby s kick during pregnancy.
How protein helps
Proteins are the building blocks of the body and they also help in fetal growth and development. The idea of having protein supplements is to boost fetal growth rate. However, many studies show that adding supplements alone would not do any good to your baby.
A study which took into account five trials involving 1134 women, whose nutritional advice was to increase energy and protein intakes saw that there was no consistent benefit in their pregnancy outcomes. In another 13 trials involving 4665 women, balanced energy-protein supplementation was associated with modest increases in maternal weight gain and in mean birth weight. There was a substantial reduction in risk of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth. However, when compared to undernourished women these differences were not too great. No significant effects were detected on preterm birth, but reduced risks for stillbirth and neonatal death were noted. Here is all you need to know about weight gain during pregnancy.
In another two trials involving 1076 women, high-protein supplementation was associated with a small, nonsignificant increase in maternal weight gain but a nonsignificant reduction in mean birthweight, a significantly increased risk of SGA birth, and a nonsignificantly increased risk of neonatal death.
In three other trials involving 966 women, isocaloric protein supplementation was also associated with an increased risk of SGA birth. In three trials involving 384 women, energy-protein restriction of pregnant women who were overweight or exhibited high weight gain significantly reduced weekly maternal weight gain and mean birth weight but had no effect on pregnancy-induced hypertension or pre-eclampsia.
What you should do
If you have been prescribed protein powders for supplementing your diet, ask your doctor if you really need to take them and how it will be beneficial for you. However, try to include more protein rich foods in your diet to meet your protein requirement.
Reference:
1: Kramer MS, Kakuma R. Energy and protein intake in pregnancy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2003;(4):CD000032. Review. Update in: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012;9:CD000032. PubMed PMID: 14583907.
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