Nutrition and pregnancy
A period when needs for certain micronutrients rise sharply and specific food safety restrictions apply, without energy intake needing to double.
Pregnancy changes nutritional needs very unevenly. Needs for folate (B9), iron, iodine and choline rise markedly, while the extra energy required stays modest: around 70 kcal a day in the first trimester, about 260 in the second and 500 in the third.
“Eating for two” is the most widespread mistake. The extra need is far more about quality than quantity: it is micronutrients that need double the attention, not portions. Excessive weight gain increases the risk of gestational diabetes and of complications at birth.
Folate holds a special place: its role in closing the neural tube plays out in the very first weeks, often before the pregnancy is known. This is why supplementation is recommended from the moment you plan to conceive, not once you discover you are pregnant.
On the restrictions side, caution applies to listeriosis and toxoplasmosis (raw products, raw-milk cheeses, cured meats and deli meats), to the heavy metals in large predatory fish, to alcohol, for which no safe threshold has been established, and to high-dose vitamin A, which can cause birth defects and is why liver in particular is ruled out.