7 Ideal Fruits for Pregnant Women
There are some ideal fruits for pregnant women that within a balanced diet and, of course, a healthy lifestyle, provide a large number of benefits to your body. Here, we’ll tell you what they are.
Fruits are foods that help nourish and hydrate the body, but they also help maintain a healthy weight, thanks to their fiber content. For this reason, it’s important to incorporate them daily in the diet, in snacks, or in the main meals.
Papaya, one of the ideal fruits for pregnant women
Papaya is rich in papain (hence its name), an enzyme with excellent digestive and analgesic properties that’s very convenient when it comes to relieving slow digestions in pregnant women.
This fruit is also rich in antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins such as vitamin E, which contribute in various ways to the health of the body.
Regular consumption of papaya helps to:
- Improve skin health
- Fight abdominal inflammation
- Prevent and treat constipation
- Strengthen the immune system
- Regulate blood sugar levels
- Maintain a good energy level
- Improve overall gastrointestinal health
- Relieve heartburn (which is so common during pregnancy)
Tangerines
Another ideal fruit for pregnant women is tangerine. Its flavor is delicious and it has a great nutritional content, especially vitamin A, C, and E. It’s also rich in potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, folic acid, among other nutrients.
This fruit helps to strengthen the health of the immune system, which helps to keep infections at bay; but it also contributes to maintaining good skin health by stimulating the production of collagen and carotene.
As for the baby, the consumption of tangerines is also very convenient because their nutrients intervene in the development of the nervous system, tissues, and the formation of red blood cells.
Consuming a tangerine after having a bowl of lentils helps improve iron absorption; something that’s very useful in preventing anemia during the months of pregnancy.
Apples
Third among our ideal fruits for pregnant women is the apple. It’s a very versatile fruit with an excellent nutritional contribution, even for the baby. Apples contain antioxidants, minerals, and various vitamins that help to:
- Improve skin health
- Combat the action of free radicals
- Relieve the symptoms of various gastrointestinal problems
- Treat constipation and diarrhea naturally (depending on whether they’re raw or cooked)
- Regulate cholesterol absorption and control blood sugar levels
- Fight fluid retention
- Prevent cavities (when the fruit is eaten naturally)
Apples are known to be the fruit of beauty, therefore, many people incorporate them into their daily diet to maintain a healthy appearance.
Peaches
This is a fleshy fruit that contains a large amount of water, so it helps fight heat and prevents dehydration. In addition, it’s rich in vitamins and minerals that are essential during pregnancy, such as potassium, magnesium, iodine, and vitamins A, C, B1, B2, and B6.
As if that weren’t enough, according to popular beliefs, peaches have diuretic properties, so they could prevent fluid retention. However, there’s no scientific evidence to support this fact.
Strawberries
Another ideal fruit for pregnant women is strawberries. According to various studies, this fruit contains multiple active principles that give it beneficial properties for the body. Regular consumption of strawberries can prevent inflammatory disorders, obesity, oxidative stress, as well as lower the risk of cardiovascular conditions and some types of cancer.
As if that weren’t enough, they’re rich in vitamin K, C, potassium, and magnesium, so they include many benefits for pregnant women, such as strengthening the immune system. In addition, they favor the intestinal absorption of iron, a mineral essential for the proper development of the baby.
Mango
Mango is a fruit that’s rich in sugars that are easily digested, making it a healthy source of energy that’s useful during pregnancy. It’s also rich in minerals such as magnesium, calcium, and potassium. Finally, it has large amounts of fiber, which is why it is useful to combat constipation caused by pregnancy.
Bananas
The last fruit on our list is the banana. In addition to being rich in minerals and vitamins necessary for pregnant women, studies have shown that this fruit contains antioxidant substances and that they increase the amount of vitamin A in the body. Also, being rich in potassium, they could help treat vomiting and nausea in pregnancy.
Conclusion
It’s important to remember that, although we’ve told you about 7 ideal fruits for pregnant women, you should still include the rest of the options and combinations in your diet as well. The most important thing is to maintain a balance through variety. The worst enemy of a healthy diet will be monotony.
Other fruits that are highly recommended during pregnancy are tomato, pineapple, kiwi, plums, oranges, among others.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Gugusheff J. R, Ong Zh Y, et al. A maternal “junk food” diet reduces sensitivity to the opioid antagonist naloxone in offspring postweaning. The FASEB Journal. Marzo 2013. 27.
- Jang, Won et al. “Maternal fruit and vegetable or vitamin C consumption during pregnancy is associated with fetal growth and infant growth up to 6 months: results from the Korean Mothers and Children’s Environmental Health (MOCEH) cohort study.” Nutrition journal vol. 17,1 105. 12 Nov. 2018, doi:10.1186/s12937-018-0410-6.
- Mayo Clinic. Alimentación durante el embarazo: enfócate en estos nutrientes esenciales. Abril 2022.
- See-Ling Loy, M Marhazlina, Y Nor Azwany y JM Hamid Jan. Higher intake of fruits and vegetables in pregnancy is associated with birth size. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. Vol 42 No. 5 September 2011.