Micronutrients Intake and Status
during Pregnancy and Lactation

Higher energy intakes should allow pregnant women to meet their higher essential fatty acid,
dietary fiber, folic acid, iron, vitamin D, calcium, vitamin B12, and vitamin C requirements [3,4].
However, previous research highlighted various dietary inadequacies, namely folate, iron, vitamin B12,
and vitamin D insufficiencies [5–7] thus suggesting that pregnant women may have difficulty meeting
their higher micronutrient requirements through diet alone [5]. Moreover, since inadequate folate and
iron status during pregnancy has been associated with numerous adverse health outcomes [8–10],
Health Canada recommends that pregnant women should take, on a daily basis, a multivitamin
that contains at least 400 μg of folic acid and 16–20 mg of iron [4]. There are currently no specific
recommendations in terms of supplementation for other micronutrients. The use of a multivitamin
combined with the increase in total energy intakes is probably sufficient to allow pregnant women to
fill other micronutrient requirements