Prenatal Vitamins

The science of probiotics

Have you noticed there has been a huge increase in products boasting of probiotics? If you start browsing the yogurt section of your grocery store or of health food stores, you can’t miss the bright labels proudly declaring “PROBIOTICS.” In the last five years or so, probiotics have hit the shelves and found popularity in a big way. Just like açaí, quinoa, and dark chocolate, probiotics have been around for a long time, but have only recently become household names. So what are probiotics exactly? Most people know that probiotics can help maintain healthy digestion, but let me give you a bit of background, and then let you in on some of the awesome things that probiotics can do for your pregnancy.

To start with, you may not know that you already have 400 kinds of probiotic bacteria in your digestive tract right now. These bacteria are already working for you to keep you healthy by fighting any kinds of bad bacteria that make their way into your digestive system. Essentially, when you eat probiotics (or take them in a pill) you are giving your body more of what it’s already using to keep you healthy! No harsh chemicals or unnatural reactions!

Probiotics and Pregnancy

You may have noticed that on our home page we consider probiotics to be a high-quality nutrient to look for in prenatal vitamins. Why put probiotics on a pedestal like that? Our purpose goes beyond the benefits that probiotics give your digestive system, although their ability to relieve uncomfortable symptoms of pregnancy like nausea, constipation, or diarrhea are awesome!

The power of probiotics increases during pregnancy. Recent studies in Norway analyzed data from more than 30,000 pregnant women and found that consuming probiotics during pregnancy reduces the risk of pre-eclampsia by 20%. Not only that, in cases of severe eclampsia, probiotics’ effectiveness increased up to 39% when probiotics were consumed. daily.

Although scientists are not sure why, top researchers believe that probiotics may have the ability to specifically target the inflammation that leads to pre-eclampsia.

Fighting Pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia affects up to 3% of all pregnancies and has led to 600,000 deaths. Since it’s not known what causes some pregnant women to develop this disease, it is essential to prevent pre-eclampsia by consuming probiotics. Without prevention, pre-eclampsia can lead to low birth weight, health problems, early delivery, or emergency C-section. Pre-eclampsia is a heartbreaking disease that works by preventing the placenta from delivering life-giving oxygen and nutrition to your unborn baby. Luckily, you can defend and protect your baby by finding prenatal vitamins that contain probiotics.

What to look for

In the study done in Norway, researchers monitored pregnant women’s intake of lactobacilli containing milk products. Their findings showed that women who consumed at least 140ml of probiotic milk products reduced the risk of pre-eclampsia by 20%. So how can you make sure that you are getting enough probiotics? Yogurt is probably the most well-known food containing probiotics, but sauerkraut, kimchi, miso soup, some kinds of soft cheese (like gouda), kefir, and sourdough bread also contain probiotics. However, for many busy moms, running to the health food store every other day just isn’t an option. Luckily, many top of the line prenatal vitamins contain probiotics. Check the labels of your prenatal vitamin and make sure that you and your baby are getting the probiotics you need!