Beetroot juice during pregnancy

If you still think that boiled beets and beet juice during pregnancy help only with constipation, which complains most expectant mothers, it means that you do not know the main thing about this vegetable.

How to prepare and eat beet juice during pregnancy?

To beet juice is a useful product, it must be properly prepared. Wet beetroot is advised to soak in cold water (about 20-30 minutes), peel the skin with a stainless steel knife and, cutting into pieces, send to a juicer. The juice should be poured into glass or enameled dishes.

But immediately after receiving juice from beets, you can not drink it! Be sure to give time to release it from substances harmful to the body. To do this, the juice should be cleaned in the fridge for 3-3.5 hours, and that all unnecessary volatilized, dishes with juice should remain open.

If we talk about the rules of drinking juice from beets, then in its pure form it can not be drunk, but only after dilution with water - in a ratio of 1: 1. In a day you can drink no more than 120-130 ml of diluted juice, but not for one, but three times during the day.

Judging by the fact that reviews about beetroot juice during pregnancy leave the women who tried it, the taste of the drink leaves much to be desired. And there is advice to drink beetroot-carrot juice during pregnancy. First, it is so delicious, and, secondly, carrots are also very useful, especially for sight.

To increase the taste of beet juice will also help a slice of fresh lemon with skin.

Benefit of beet juice during pregnancy

What is contained in the beet and, in particular, what can be the benefit of beet juice during pregnancy?

So, beet has in its composition carbohydrates in the form of natural digestible sugars; a rich set of vitamins - carotene, ascorbic acid (C), thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9); macro- and microelements - potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, sodium, manganese, iron, copper, cobalt, zinc, iodine. There are apple, citric and tartaric organic acids in it, as well as betaine, betacyanin, etc.

Beet juice is useful for pregnant women, because he:

• Reduces the likelihood of developing iron deficiency anemia due to the content of iron and vitamin C, which improves the absorption of iron.
• Reduces the threat of premature termination of pregnancy, which can lead to a lack of intake of vitamin C in the body.
• Helps to stabilize the level of glucose in the blood, because the beet has a low glycemic index.
• Thanks to vitamin B9 (folic acid) it prevents fetal malformations of the fetus of the first three months of pregnancy (neural tube defects), since the need for folates required for DNA synthesis in cells doubles during pregnancy.
• Replenishes the reserves of iodine in the mother, as with his lack, the probability of abortion or the appearance of mental development abnormalities of the child is not excluded.
• Provides normal operation of the stomach and pancreas, including through the content of vitamin B3.
• It protects the liver from fat cell degeneration due to oleanolic acid and betaine, which activates the synthesis of phospholipids necessary for restoring the integrity of hepatocyte membranes. In addition, betaine acts as a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, and also prevents pain in the joints and edema.
• Reduces the level of highly toxic metabolite homocysteine, increasing the level of which threatens miscarriage, as well as late gestosis and fetal asphyxia, and the mother causes damage to the blood vessels and the formation of blood clots in them.
• Clears the liver and blood from toxins due to the content of the antioxidant pigment of betacyanin.
• Reduces cramps of calf muscles and foot muscles, which are associated with calcium deficiency; prevents osteoporosis. Assimilation of calcium contributes to the content in beet and beet juice of amino acids, in particular, lysine.
• It improves blood circulation and helps to lower blood pressure (due to the formation of nitric oxide in the intestine from nitrates present in root vegetables).

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Contraindications and side effects of the use of beet juice

To use beet juice for pregnant women is contraindicated in case of problems with the kidneys (including in the presence of oxalate stones), with an elevated cholesterol level in the blood, with excessive weight gain and a tendency to obesity, and also with an increased acid content in the gastric juice.

Among the side effects attributed exclusively to betaine, note nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, fits of weakness and stomach problems. Also betaine - with "overdose" of beet juice - can provoke an increase in the total level of cholesterol.

Nutritionists almost always recommend the inclusion of a certain amount of beets in the daily menu of pregnant women, but there are no standard recommendations for the use of juice from raw beets.

But, considering that beet is an excellent natural source of folic acid, beet juice during pregnancy - with the observance of the rules for its preparation and consumption - is a good option for pregnant women.

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