By: Paulina Corcuera
Iron intake is essential in pregnancy and in week 5, since a large part is used by the mother to increase the amount of blood by 50% and the rest by the fetus and the placenta for its development. The demand for iron increases from 0.8 mg/day during the first trimester to 6.3 mg/day in the third trimester, hence the importance of eating foods rich in this mineral.
It is important that to promote the absorption of iron, especially if it comes from foods of vegetable origin, it is complemented with foods rich in vitamin C, in addition to avoiding consuming them together with other foods that hinder absorption such as dairy products, whole grains, tea, cocoa or coffee, prefer them separately
It is convenient to soak the legumes before cooking to make that iron more available and when cooking spinach and chard, discard the cooking water due to the large amount of oxalates it contains. It is better to consume them steamed or raw (in a kind of salad), not forgetting the citrus: a few drops of lemon, a few slices of tangerine or orange, may be the options. The foods that contain the most iron are: cockles, clams, soybeans, wheat germ, mussels, white beans, lentils, tofu, chickpeas, red meat, peas, chard, spinach, etc. The foods that contain the most amount of vitamin C are: guava, peppers, papaya, kiwi, cauliflower, cabbage, cabbage, raspberry, lemon, orange, grapefruit, mango, etc.
