Pumpkin juice in pregnancy

Drinking pumpkin juice during pregnancy is useful advice and, importantly, justified, since pumpkin is an accessible source of vitamins and microelements necessary for the body of the expectant mother, which not only help to cope with many problems that arise during gestation, but also ensure the normal development of the fetus.

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Benefits of Pumpkin Juice During Pregnancy

The benefits of pumpkin juice during pregnancy can be demonstrated in only one way: by analyzing its chemical composition. Let's start with vitamins, which every pregnant woman should take care of getting enough of.

Pumpkin pulp and, accordingly, pumpkin juice are an excellent “supplier” of the main antioxidant vitamins – A (in the form of β-carotene and carotenoids), C and E.

Vitamin E (tocopherol) in pumpkin is 1.06 mg%; during pregnancy it is necessary to protect lipids of DNA cells from free radicals, that is, from damage by peroxidation.

There is little vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) in pumpkin - 8-9 mg% (in orange juice - 93 mg%, in baked potatoes - 17 mg%); when it is deficient, immunity suffers, protein metabolism is disrupted, muscles (primarily the myocardium) weaken, as well as connective tissues (due to disruptions in collagen production).

But pumpkin juice contains plenty of beta-carotene and hydroxylated carotenoid pigments (cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, lutein), which give pumpkin its orange color and are converted into vitamin A when ingested – 3.67 g%. Vitamin A is necessary for the skin and mucous membranes to be healthy and resist various damaging factors. It is also necessary for the vision of the pregnant woman herself, and for the normal formation of the retinal pigment of the unborn child.

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 (B5). The content of the most important - vitamin B, which prevents defects of the neural tube and brain of the fetus, and also ensures the formation of the placenta - in pumpkin juice is insignificant (16-20 mcg%). It contains much more riboflavin (0.09-0.11 mg%), which is necessary for the body for normal metabolism and ATP synthesis, the production of red blood cells, various hormones and enzymes. According to perinatologists, vitamin B2 deficiency in pregnant women can lead to such a congenital defect in the baby as "cleft palate" (cleft palate).

Drinking pumpkin juice during pregnancy is also useful because pumpkin pulp contains 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.

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 mcg%).

During pregnancy, the body needs potassium, as this macronutrient is involved in regulating the process of urine formation, in particular, glomerular filtration of the kidneys. With edema, which most pregnant women complain of, potassium in pumpkin juice helps remove excess fluid from the body. In addition, if toxicosis is observed in the early stages of gestation, the pregnant woman loses potassium due to constant vomiting, and this is expressed in increased drowsiness, heart problems, decreased blood pressure, muscle pain. It is easy to guess how all this affects the condition of the fetus...

The main place where calcium and phosphorus (in the form of crystalline hydroxyapatite) are concentrated in the body is, of course, the bones. If the expectant mother does not receive enough calcium and phosphorus, she may experience convulsions (at best) or osteoporosis, since the calcium from her bone tissue is “taken” by the future child to form the organic matrix of its skeleton. With intrauterine calcium deficiency in the blood, newborns may show symptoms of hypocalcemic tetany in the form of muscle hypertonicity and convulsions, irregular breathing, prolonged screaming literally until turning blue. Newborns may also be diagnosed with such a metabolic bone pathology as osteopenia.

Reviews of pumpkin juice during pregnancy

Reviews of pumpkin juice during pregnancy confirm the benefits of this natural product.

Firstly, pregnant women note that after regular consumption of pumpkin juice, bowel function improves and constipation does not bother them. And this is natural: juice has pulp, and the pulp contains fiber, which helps regular bowel movements.

Secondly, nausea is less bothersome in the early stages, and in the later stages, the legs do not swell as much. Everything is correct, because pumpkin juice during pregnancy promotes the normal functioning of many systems and organs, which improves the general condition of expectant mothers.