Prenatal Vitamin Standards

While you may already be health conscious in regard to your individual nutritional needs, it is important to realize that your body will have some extra prenatal vitamin requirements during pregnancy. It has become common practice for most obstetricians and health professionals to prescribe these vitamins for their expecting patients.

There are a variety of formulas for prenatal vitamins, some prescribed by the doctor and others that are available over-the-counter. Generally, you will find the prescribed formulas to be superior to those purchased over-the-counter.

Should you decide to select your own prenatal vitamin formula from those available over-the-counter you must be sure that certain standards apply.

Here are some general guidelines:

VITAMIN A- This is a fat-soluble vitamin that helps form and maintain healthy teeth, skeletal and soft tissue, mucous membranes, and skin. Vitamin A also promotes good vision (especially, in low light) and is helpful in reproduction and breast feeding. When it comes to this vitamin, more is not better. Excessive intake of Vitamin A will not only make you sick, but can also result in birth defects. For women who are pregnant or producing breast milk additional Vitamin A can be beneficial. Ask your doctor what dose is best for you.

VITAMIN C This is water-soluble and is necessary for normal growth and development. Water-soluble vitamins dissolve in water, and are not stored in the body. Excess amounts leave the body in urine, requiring a continuous dietary supply. Vitamin C toxicity is very rare with 75-100 mg/day being a comfortable dosage. However, pregnant women may require more. Consult with your doctor regarding your specific needs.

VITAMIN D Vitamin D is another fat-soluble vitamin that helps the body to absorb calcium, as well as helping maintain the right amount of calcium and phosphorus in the blood. Depending on your lifestyle, you may not need to supplement this vitamin. Often called the "sunshine vitamin," all it takes is 10-15 minutes of sun exposure, 3 times a week to produce the body's requirement. Daily recommendations depend on age, gender, and other factors (such as pregnancy). Again, check with your doctor for a specific recommendation.

VITAMIN E Also a fat-soluble vitamin, Vitamin E is an antioxidant that protects body tissue from damage caused by free radicals, and is important in the formation of red blood cells. 15 mg daily is the recommended dosage. Women who are producing breast milk may require a higher dosage. Check with your doctor.

CALCIUM This is the most plentiful mineral found in the body with 99% of the body's Calcium found in our teeth and bones. The small remainder is found in nerve cells, body tissues, blood, and other body fluids. In general, adults should get 1200 milligrams of Calcium each day with up to 2000-2500 considered safe. Maintaining a healthy intake of Calcium will just about eliminate any chance of a low-level Calcium problem in an infant.

FOLIC ACID This is a water-soluble type of B vitamin which may be one of the more important supplements for fetal development. This vitamin helps form red blood cells and helps produce DNA, the building block of the human body, which carries genetic information. Taking the correct amount of Folic Acid, both before and during pregnancy, helps prevent certain birth defects including spina bifida. For pregnant women, 600 mcg daily is recommended. If breast feeding be sure to continue with at least 500 mcg daily.

THIAMINE, RIBOFLAVIN, PYRIDOXINE, NIACINAMIDE, AND VITAMIN B-12 Most prenatal vitamin formulas will contain two to three times the recommended daily allowance of these vitamins. Also, there are no known toxicity levels making any additional needs during pregnancy easy to meet.

ZINC and IRON Look for at least 15 mg of zinc and 30 mg elemental iron. Keep in mind that a supplement containing zinc will also need additional copper. Both are necessary for the proper assimilation of iron. Zinc will also be required when calcium supplementation exceeds 1200 mg.

While trace minerals are also important in nutritional health, you will find few if any prenatal vitamin formulas containing any additional trace minerals. Insuring that that your prenatal supplement formula is balanced to each other, and contains all the essential nutrients for mother and infant health can be a difficult task. This task is made easier with the wide variety and availability of healthy food choices. Be sure to eat healthfully and use prenatal vitamin and mineral supplements for extra nutritional coverage.

Copyright ©2007 Carl DiNello

Carl DiNello is an Article Author, Researcher, and Website Owner whose articles are featured on websites covering the Internet's most popular topics.

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Reaching The State Of Euphoria

The early summer period is considered ideal for you to take care of your neglected self, to rectify any of your bad winter habits, to find the necessary time to improve your health and fitness levels, to offer some small "gifts" to your body and consecutively to improve the quality of your life. Following the above list is not something one should recommend only to people that are healthy and fit, but most importantly to those who work too much, are always under stress, do not engage in any type of physical activity, and of course, have bad eating habits.

Reduce the Stress Factor: This comes first in this list of advices, since stress is directly related with a variety of health problems. Experts suggest that those suffering from stress should sleep for 30 minutes during the day; apart from the required 6-8 hours of night sleep. Even if your work does not allow you to be home before 6 p.m. try sleeping for half an hour when you get back. It is rejuvenating and equals two hours of night sleep. Moreover, instead of watching TV you should listen to your favorite music, sit comfortably on the couch and read something pleasant. The continuous parade of images on the TV screen increases your stress levels, while reading and listening to a tune can both entertain you and help you reexamine your worries later with a clear head.

Eat Healthier Food: Apart from stress, the high levels of sugar in your blood in combination to an unhealthy diet you follow can weaken your heart. Thus, you should add to your daily nutrition, foods that contain fibers, like whole grain products, fruits and vegetables, pulse, etc. If you cannot say goodbye to sweet flavors, it is best for you to eat dark chocolate, honey roasted nuts or dried fruits. These will provide you with the sugar you want to taste, but will not add tremendously to your daily calorie intake.

Find Time to Exercise: Imperative for your good health and your normal heart's operation is to exercise regularly and frequently. If it is difficult to find those extra minutes during the day to visit the gym or participate in any sport, select to use the public transportation that is available in your area and get off one stop before your final destination in order to walk; if that is feasible of course. If you have to drive, try parking five minutes further away from your house or office and then walk the rest of the distance. Use the stares instead of the elevator and during the weekend if you select to dine outside your house, go somewhere that you can walk before dinning (e.g. sea, mountain).

Drink Water: Extremely important for your body to stay fit is to drink water. Water is one of the few things you should never exclude from your diet. Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day and try to choose water instead of a soda drink or coffee during or after dinning.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for http://fitness-talk.net/ - In addition, Jonathon also writes articles for http://forahealthyman.com/ and http://learntobecloser.com/

Ski Gloves - Simple Tips to Buy the Best

Planning for skiing, I am sure ski gloves are the last thing you would want to forget. But generally speaking, the winter sports require you to protect your fingers appropriately because that is where you loose your temperature most. Even other sports like snowboarding; snow shoeing, climbing and snowmobiling all demand some kind of outdoor research gloves that matches their activities and prevailing conditions.

Tips To Buy the Top Gloves

1. Zipping downhill or climbing snow mountains, the first parts that suffer are feet and fingers; drop of a fraction of degree in body temperature opens the floodgates and consequently freezing circulation.
2. Gloves must taper towards wrist to prevent heat escape. Velcro wrist grips or strap buckle combination are still essential to hold warmth inside. The warmth remains inside with good mid layer insulation.
3. If you are skiing, go for ski gloves particularly; the grip needed for skiing, you wont get in snowboard gloves. Good pair of gloves provides a synthetic reinforced abrasion resistant palm for added grip.
4. Take a pick at the insulation; at least two layers of Thermacore and fleece liners give the best. Let the gloves be a little loose to give some airspace n between.
5. You may want to wipe your goggles or nose even in the thick of action to fend off mist; a good pair of gloves has nose wipe on thumb and goggle wipe attachment.
6. The gloves must be made in breathable waterproof synthetic or natural leather. Check if you can wear removable pipe glove liner inside.

If you are buying for the first time, take your coach or a senior along. There are several finer points that they dont miss out to check. Shop around across brands like Burton gloves and the north face gloves and different stores. A good pair of ski gloves can make all the difference.

Alevoor Rajagopal, MBA, advises on issues that concern small businesses. Fine tuning common but pesky issues to improve efficiency and ROI is what he specializes and writes at online earning. Find his eBay business coaching at eBay Made Easy.