Guest article for WeNatal. Read the full article here.

Vitamin A plays a critical role in fertility, maternal health, fetal development, and even the long-term health of your child. There’s a lot of fear and confusion around vitamin A and pregnancy because both too little and too much can have serious consequences for mom and baby. Let’s break it down and take the worry out of the vitamin A equation.

The Role of Vitamin A:

Vitamin A is crucial as it regulates gene expression and is essential to the fetal growth and development of most cells and organs, including the heart, eyes, lungs, and ears, as well as the immune system.

Lack of vitamin A is associated with infertility and an increased risk for anemia, c-section, depression, gestational diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, and premature rupture of membranes during pregnancy.  It also puts the baby at greater risk of miscarriage, congenital heart defects, orofacial defects, intrauterine growth restriction, impaired lung function, and neural tube defects.  The effects of maternal vitamin A deficiency reach far beyond in utero, putting that child at increased risk for insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, diabetes, and schizophrenia spectrum disorders in adulthood.

Clearly vitamin A is vital, but too much can have just as dire consequences, leading to birth defects of the central nervous and cardiovascular systems.  As devastating as this all sounds, with a basic understanding of vitamin A and the right prenatal supplementation, mom and baby can thrive.

Read the full article at WeNatal.