Sodium is an essential nutrient and should never be removed from your diet, especially during pregnancy! Sodium plays a role in maintaining your body’s water balance. The requirements for sodium actually increase during pregnancy due to plasma volume expansion.
Around 30 years ago, it was thought that sodium increased water retention and blood pressure, and limiting sodium would prevent edema (swelling) and high blood pressure. We now know that this is not the case, and if you decide to restrict your sodium intake, you could complicate the course and outcome of your pregnancy. Restriction may exhaust sodium conservation mechanisms and lead to excessive sodium loss.
Thirty years later, we know that sodium restriction is not recommended during pregnancy for the control of high blood pressure or edema. You can be given no advice concerning your sodium intake during pregnancy, and just remember to salt to taste. Make sure you check your blood pressure when you visit your doctor just in case, and eat a balanced diet.
Hypertension
Check Your Blood Pressure When Visiting The Doctor
The causes of most cases of hypertension during pregnancy remains unknown. Chronic hypertension is diagnosed prior to pregnancy or before 20 weeks after conception. It is more likely to occur in African Americans, obese women, women over 35 years of age, and women who experienced high blood pressure in a previous pregnancy. To avoid hypertension during pregnancy, consume an adequate and balanced diet before and during pregnancy. If you are worried about consuming too much salt and want to restrict it, remember that limiting salt may impair fetal growth.
Edema
Edema is a normal physiological change during pregnancy and occurs in 60-75% of women. Edema is swelling (usually in the legs and feet, but can extend throughout the body) due to the accumulation of extracellular fluid. High gains of water is associated with increasing degress of edema and weight gain. Edema generally reflects a healthy expansion of plasma volume. The greater the expansion of plasma volume, the greater the newborn size. Edema is normal and do not try to prevent edema because it may impair the growth of your newborn.
Sources
Brown, J. (2008). Nutrition through the lifecycle. Belmont, USA: Thomson Wadsworth
