The Truth About Anemia During Pregnancy

Anemia is a health complaint that affects a significant amount of us at sometime in our lives, and yet, despite this, it is an illness which is grossly misunderstood and misinterpeted by the general public. This willingness to trivialise the precise nature and potential risks that anemia presents is especially concerning because it means that people are then lured into a sense of false security.

There is also a tendency among people to assume that in order to acquire anemia, a person must be very irresponsible with their eating habits, i.e. eating a high amount of processed foods which are high in additives, flavoring agents and saturated fat, but are sorely lacking in any sort of decent nutritional value.

Whenever a woman becomes pregnant, the chances of her developing anemia are much higher and so it is for that reason then that particular care is necessary in order to protect not only her, but her unborn child as well.

How does pregnancy affect the risks of a woman acquiring/contracting anemia?

Whenever a woman becomes pregnant, the amount of folic acid that she requires will be dramatically increased.

The increased demand for iron (in order to provide the fetus in the womb with sufficient levels of oxygen) is also significantly elevated, and so it is imperative that a pregnant woman ingests a minimum of 30mg of iron per day during the pregnancy. It is important to note that if a pregnant woman should suffer a major reduction in the hameoglobin levels in the body then this means that there is a much higher risk of the fetus being born prematurely.

During the pregnancy phrase, the female body will retain much larger volumes and amounts of fluid than previously required, and so this increases the volume of plasma in the blood.  For those of us who are not proficient with medical jargon terminology, plasma is the liquid part of blood and so the fact that the blood is more liquid will increase the chances of the female developing anemia. This is a trend that must be carefully monitored for at all times during the pregnancy term.