Pumpkin juice in pregnancy
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Drinking pumpkin juice during pregnancy is a useful and, importantly, sound advice, as pumpkin is an affordable source of vitamins and microelements necessary for the organism of the future mother, which not only helps to cope with many problems that arise during gestation, but also ensure the normal development of the fetus.
[1]
Benefit of pumpkin juice in pregnancy
The benefits of pumpkin juice during pregnancy can be demonstrated by the only way: by analyzing its chemical composition. Let's start with vitamins, which every pregnant woman should take care of sufficient intake of the body.
Pumpkin flesh and, accordingly, pumpkin juice - an excellent "supplier" of the main antioxidant vitamins - A (in the form of β-carotene and carotenoids), C and E.
Vitamin E (tocopherol) in the pumpkin 1.06 mg%; during pregnancy, it is necessary to protect the DNA cell lipids from free radicals, that is, from damage by peroxide oxidation.
Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) in the pumpkin is a little - 8-9 mg% (in orange juice - 93 mg%, in baked potatoes - 17 mg%); with its deficiency, immunity suffers, protein metabolism is disrupted, muscles are weakened (first of all, myocardium), as well as connective tissues (due to disturbances in collagen production).
But beta-carotene and hydroxylated carotenoid pigments (cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, lutein), which give the pumpkin its orange color, and when it gets into the body are converted to vitamin A, in pumpkin juice abound - 3.67 g%. Vitamin A is necessary to ensure that the skin and mucous membranes are healthy and withstand various damaging factors. It is also necessary for the vision of the most pregnant, and for the normal formation of the retina pigment of the future child's eyes
Pumpkin juice is very useful when planning pregnancy, because it is a good source of B-vitamin complex: folic acid (B9), pyridoxine (B6) thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (vitamin B3 or nicotinic acid), pantothenic acid (AT 5). The content of the most important is vitamin B, which prevents defects in the neural tube and brain of the fetus, and also ensures the formation of the placenta - in pumpkin juice slightly (16-20 μg%). There is much more riboflavin (0,09-0,11 mg%), which is necessary for the body for normal metabolism and synthesis of ATP, the production of red blood cells, various hormones and enzyme substances. According to perinatologists, vitamin B2 deficiency in pregnant women can lead to such a birth defect in the baby as a "wolf mouth" (cleft palate).
To use pumpkin juice during pregnancy is also useful because in the pulp pulp enough aliphatic amino acids - alanine, asparagine, arginine, valine, tryptophan; in the body they are part of proteins and participate in nitrogen metabolism, during which nitrogen-containing substances are converted into tissue proteins.
The composition of pumpkin juice contains macro- and microelements: potassium (245-340 mg%), calcium (21-25 mg%), phosphorus (19-44 mg%), magnesium (11.2-12 mg%), manganese (0.125 mg%), iron (0.3-0.8 mg%), copper (0.127 mg%), iodine (1 μg%).
During pregnancy the body needs potassium, since this macro-element is involved in regulating the process of urine formation, in particular glomerular filtration of the kidneys. When swelling, which complains most pregnant women, potassium in pumpkin juice helps to remove excess fluid from the body. In addition, if toxicosis is observed in early gestation, the pregnant woman loses potassium due to constant vomiting, and this is manifested in increased drowsiness, cardiac dysfunction, lowering blood pressure, and muscle pain. It is not difficult to guess how all this affects the condition of the fetus ...
The main place where calcium and phosphorus are concentrated in the body (in the form of crystalline hydroxyapatite) are, of course, bones. If the future mother receives less calcium and phosphorus, she may encounter seizures (at best) or osteoporosis, as calcium from her bone tissues is "taken away" by the future child to form the organic matrix of her skeleton. With intrauterine calcium deficiency in the blood in newborns may manifest symptoms of hypocalcemic tetany in the form of muscle hypertension and seizures, irregular breathing, prolonged crying in the literal sense before becoming blue. Also, newborns can be diagnosed with such a metabolic bone pathology as osteopenia.
Reviews of pumpkin juice in pregnancy
Reviews of pumpkin juice during pregnancy confirm the benefits of this natural product.
First, pregnant women note that after regular consumption of pumpkin juice, intestinal work is established and do not suffer from constipation. And this is natural: juice with pulp, and in the pulp - fiber, which helps regular emptying of the intestine.
Secondly, in the early periods, nausea is less likely to persist, and later on, not so the legs swell. All right, because pumpkin juice during pregnancy contributes to the normal operation of many systems and organs, which improves the overall condition of expectant mothers.