9 of 10 Pregnant Women Missing Nutrients Vital to Baby’s Development: Study

A new study suggests that 90 percent of women aren’t getting all of the critical nutrients recommended for healthy pregnancies and the welfare of their developing fetuses. The nutrients most missed in the diets of pregnant women in the study of over 1,700 women were those found in meat and dairy products and included vitamins B12, B6, and D, folic acid, and riboflavin. The study, published on Dec. 5 in PLoS Medicine, surveyed the diets of 1,729 pregnant women in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and New Zealand between the ages of 18 and 38. In addition to looking at the women’s diets, researchers took blood and plasma samples throughout their pregnancies to monitor their levels of vitamins and nutrients....