Maintaining a healthy diet during pregnancy is very important.
During this time, your body needs additional nutrients, vitamins and minerals (1Trusted Source).
In fact, you may need 350–500 extra calories each day during the second and third trimesters (2Trusted Source).
A diet lacking in key nutrients may negatively affect the baby’s development (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source).Poor eating habits and excess weight gain may also increase your risk of gestational diabetes and pregnancy or birth complications (6Trusted Source). Put simply choosing healthy nutritious foods will help ensure the health of you and your baby. It will also make it a lot easier to lose the pregnancy weight after you’ve given birth.
During pregnancy, you need to consume extra protein and calcium to meet the needs of the growing fetus (7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source). Dairy products contain two types of high-quality protein: casein and whey. Dairy is the best dietary source of calcium, and provides high amounts of phosphorus, various B vitamins, magnesium and zinc. Yogurt, especially Greek yogurt, is particularly beneficial for pregnant women (9Trusted Source).
It contains more calcium than most other dairy products. Some varieties also contain probiotic bacteria, which support digestive health (10Trusted Source, 11Trusted Source, 12Trusted Source).People who are lactose intolerant may also be able to tolerate yogurt, especially probiotic yogurt (13Trusted Source). Taking probiotic supplements during pregnancy may reduce your risk of complications such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, vaginal infections and allergies (14Trusted Source).
