Vitamin C during pregnancy

During pregnancy, it is perhaps more important than ever before to make sure you get your vitamins and minerals. That is why most doctors recommend that every expectant mother takes prenatal supplements. All vitamins play a different role in the functioning of the human body, including during pregnancy. What is Vitamin C needed for during pregnancy? How do you get it? Can you overdose? Let's take a look!

Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid. Pregnant women are recommended to take 85 milligrams a day of vitamin C, or 80 milligrams for expectant teen moms. Citrus fruits are, of course, the most famous source of vitamin C and they are certainly rich in this vitamin. But vitamin C can also be found in many vegetables, like broccoli and bell peppers, as well as non-citrus fruits like papaya. And besides that, it is possible to supplement vitamin C separately or as part of a multivitamin program.

What does vitamin C do for your body, you might wonder? Vitamin C helps your skin and tissue repair, helps to heal wounds, fight infections, and is an antioxidant. Vitamin C helps the body to absorb iron, an important mineral for you and your baby during those nine months. It's also crucial to help the body make collagen, which is most famous as a skin treatment now, but is a necessary component of cartilage, bones, skin and tendons and those are all things your growing baby needs to develop!

You can see that this is a vitamin that is very important during pregnancy! Acquiring vitamin C from foods is the best. There have been some concerns about possible side effects of supplementation for unborn babies, including ironically a severe vitamin C deficiency! If you are not sure what to do, talk to your doctor about the possibilities at your next prenatal appointment, and make sure to talk about your current diet.