Choline plays a crucial role in pregnancy for both mum and bub, however the benefits of choline are not commonly known! This essential nutrient has many benefits including supporting fetal brain development, reducing stress in expectant mothers, reducing mum’s brain fog and so many others!
The risk of choline deficiency is typically greater among pregnant or lactating women, it’s also found that majority of pregnant women consume less choline than the daily recommended amount. We should also note that most prenatal & pregnancy formular found in chemists do not include choline so be sure to check if choline is in yours!
In this blog we will cover the main benefits choline provides mums & bubs, how you can get more choline into your diet and the prenatal supplements we recommend for our clients!
Supports Fetal Brain Development
Choline plays an essential role in supporting the growth and development of the fetal brain! Having adequate intake during pregnancy has been found to improve cognitive function in our kids giving them a head start from the very beginning! Choline provides building structures of the brain & central nervous system.
Prevents Neural Tube Defects
Consuming an adequate amount of choline during pregnancy will support your babies to form a healthy neural tube as it supports the formation and closure of the babies neural tube. Therefore, having adequate choline helps to reduce the risk of neural tube defects during pregnancy.
Supports Maternal Liver Function
Choline is also great for supporting your liver function during pregnancy which is great for reducing the risk of developing fatty liver disease and ensuring your liver is detoxifying efficiently.
Supports Cognitive Function for Mum’s
As choline works to support your babies’ brain development it will also support cognitive function for the mum which can be especially needed throughout pregnancy and postpartum as you work on restoring your health too!
Foods that are high in choline to get into your diet.
Organic free-range eggs!
Eggs are one of the best sources of choline, eating two eggs per day will cover 54% of the recommended daily intake (RDI), make sure to eat both the egg yolk & white to get the most choline.
Organ meat
Organic organ meat including liver and kidney are also high sources of choline as well as a number of other vitamins and minerals such as iron, B12 and folate. These are great if you can get them into your diet. ‘Foraged blend for mothers’ blend that you find on our online store also contains organ meat for those who struggle to get this into their diet!
Seafood
Wild caught sources of seafood including salmon, tuna and cod are great sources of choline and essential fatty acids and vitamin D.
Shiitake mushrooms
Surprisingly this specific type of mushrooms is a great source of choline. Add them with your scrambled eggs, in soups, broths or stir fries for an extra dose of choline!
Legumes & nuts
Add a handful of mixed legumes to your curries, slow cooked meals, or soups. Be sure to mix up the variety of nuts and legumes to get a variety of different nutrients and extra choline content in meals.
If you are pregnant and uncertain of whether you’re getting enough choline, be sure to book an appointment with one of our clinical naturopaths. In the meantime, you can find our preconception bundles in our online store which include Evernatal preconception formular which contains 350mg of choline! For those of you who are already pregnant you can find our Trimester bundles in our online store. Shop Our bundles here
