•Okoth said for blood formation, women should take folic acid.
•He urged pregnant women to ensure that they eat fruits especially one hour before meals.
Nutrition is crucial for a pregnant woman because the growth of the baby is dependent on the mother, Felix Okoth, a nutritionist says
During an interview with Citizen TV on Wednesday, Okoth said women should take folic acid from the spinach and pumpkin leaves for blood formation.
“Folic acid helps in the formation of the spinal cord of the baby. Deficiency of the folic acid leads to spinal bifida or poor blood formation."
He said iodine is also important and one can get it from the root tubers like potatoes.
“We do not get vitamin D from the sun but from the foods we eat,” Okoth said.
Spinach and other green leafy vegetable, eggs, milk and fish are some of the sources of vitamins.
Okoth urged pregnant women to ensure that they eat fruits, especially one hour before meals.
“Fruits should be taken one hour before meals," Okoth said.
He added: "Pregnant woman should not overindulge in liver meat because it contains a lot of vitamin A and the danger is, it can overwork the liver of the child making the child be born with liver issues".
Okoth noted that every pregnant woman is required to stay in the sun for about 10 minutes every day.
“What we get from the foods is inactive, the body cannot take it. So, it requires vitamin A from carrots and potatoes for the body to absorb. For the body to take in the absorbed foods to the cells, the UV rays are needed to reactivate D2 to D3,” Okoth said.
He urged pregnant women have been asked to drink at least a glass or two of milk a day.
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