Health Topic

Pregnancy and Nutrition

During pregnancy, it's important to give yourself and your baby the nutrition needed to grow and be healthy. Learn which foods can give you the right nutrients.

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Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

About Pregnancy and Nutrition

Nutrition is about eating a healthy and balanced diet so your body gets the nutrients that it needs. Nutrients are substances in foods that our bodies need so they can function and grow. They include carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water.

When you're pregnant, nutrition is more important than ever. You need more of many important nutrients than you did before pregnancy. Making healthy food choices every day will help you give your baby what they need to develop. It will also help make sure that you and your baby gain a healthy amount of weight.

You need more folic acid, iron, calcium, and vitamin D than you did before pregnancy:

  • Folic acid is a B vitamin that may help prevent neural tube defects. Before pregnancy, you need 400 mcg (micrograms) per day.
  • During pregnancy and when breastfeeding, you need 600 mcg per day from foods and/or vitamins. It is hard to get this amount from foods alone, so you will most likely need to take a supplement that contains folic acid.
  • Pregnant adults should get 1,000 mg (milligrams) of calcium a day
  • Pregnant teenagers (ages 14-18) need 1,300 mg of calcium a day

Keep in mind that taking too much of a supplement can be harmful. For example, very high levels of vitamin A can cause birth defects. Only take vitamins and mineral supplements that your health care provider recommends.

You also need more protein when you are pregnant. Healthy sources of protein include beans, peas, eggs, lean meats, seafood, and unsalted nuts and seeds.

Getting enough fluids is another special nutritional concern during pregnancy. When you are pregnant, your body needs even more water to stay hydrated and support the life inside you. So it's important to drink enough fluids every day.

How much weight you should gain depends on your health and how much you weighed before pregnancy:

  • If you were at a normal weight before pregnancy, you should gain about 25 to 35 pounds
  • If you were underweight before pregnancy, you should gain more
  • If you were overweight or had obesity before you became pregnant, you should gain less

Check with your provider to find out how much weight gain during pregnancy is healthy for you. You should gain the weight gradually during your pregnancy, with most of the weight gained in the last trimester.

How many calories you need depends on your weight gain goals. Your provider can tell you what your goal should be, based on things like your weight before pregnancy, your age, and how fast you gain weight. The general recommendations are:

  • In the first trimester of pregnancy, you probably do not need extra calories
  • In the second trimester, you usually need about 340 extra calories
  • In the last trimester, you may need around 450 extra calories per day
  • During the final weeks of pregnancy, you may not need extra calories

Keep in mind that not all calories are equal. You should eat healthy foods that are packed with nutrients - not "empty calories" such as those found in soft drinks, candies, and desserts.

During pregnancy, you should avoid:

  • Alcohol. There is no known amount of alcohol that is safe for a woman to drink during pregnancy.
  • Fish that may have high levels of mercury. Limit white (albacore) tuna to 6 ounces per week. Do not eat tilefish, shark, swordfish, marlin, orange roughy, or king mackerel.
  • Foods that are more likely to contain germs that could cause foodborne illness, including Refrigerated smoked seafood like whitefish, salmon, and mackerel
  • Undercooked meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood
  • Refrigerated meat spreads
  • Store-made salads, such as chicken, egg, or tuna salad
  • Unpasteurized or raw milk
  • Unpasteurized juices or cider
  • Unpasteurized soft cheeses, such as unpasteurized feta, Brie, queso blanco, queso fresco, and blue cheeses
  • Raw sprouts of any kind (including alfalfa, clover, radish, and mung bean)
  • Raw cookie dough
  • Unwashed fruits and vegetables

It sits within Pregnancy and Reproduction and Food and Nutrition.

The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.

Research on Pregnancy and Nutrition

1,469 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.

What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.

Research currently under way

Research already completed

Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.

Where to read more

Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.

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Related Issues

Clinical Trials

Medical subject headings

Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.

This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Pregnancy and Nutrition, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.