Calcium Helps Prevent Pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia And Calcium

Calcium was one of the supplements I took when I was pregnant. I had heard that it was a good idea to either take a calcium supplement or eat calcium rich foods because the baby needs calcium to build their bones and they'll take it from the mother's bones if she doesn't get enough through her diet. Well, it turns out, calcium has other benefits too - like preventing pre-eclampsia. Read more:

Calcium supplementation during pregnancy can reduce the incidence of pregnancy complications, more specifically preeclampsia related, reports a study published by American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
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Preeclampsia, a pregnancy-related complication characterized by elevated blood pressure and proteinuria (high levels of protein in the urine). Swelling of the feet, hands and legs is usually seen. If left unattended, the condition can worsen further resulting in seizures. Under worst conditions, it can result in death of the pregnant mother and the baby, before, after or during childbirth.

About 8,300 pregnant women, about their 20th week of pregnancy were recruited for the study. All the women had inadequate level of calcium supplementation owing to a poor diet (<50 1000="1000" 1300="1300" a="a" about="about" basis="basis" br="br" calcium="calcium" daily="daily" diet="diet" either="either" intake="intake" is="is" it="it" mg="mg" of="of" on="on" or="or" pregnant="pregnant" receive="receive" recommended="recommended" supplements.="supplements." that="that" the="the" through="through" to="to" women="women">
The study participants from Vietnam, Argentina, Egypt, India, South Africa and Peru were randomly provided with either calcium tablets (1500 mg of calcium carbonate) in a chewable form or a placebo.

Both the control and experimental group had comparable rates of preeclampsia (4.5 Vs 4.1% respectively). The incidence of complication related to preeclampsia, was however found to be lower in those who had consumed the calcium supplement. Furthermore, young women on calcium supplementation were found to have a reduced risk of premature delivery. 
from: www/bio-medicine.org

Pre-eclampsia in Pregnancy May Be Caused By Both Mother and Father

Pregnancy Over 40 and Pre-eclampsia

I was fortunate that I didn't develop high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia in my pregnancy.
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 I had always heard and read that older women tend to have more problems with blood pressure in pregnancy so I would go to my local discount store and pharmacy to check my blood pressure on one of those automated machines at least twice a week. However, it appears that pre-eclampsia may have a hereditary component. The article below talks about how pre-eclampsia may be passed on through the generations, even by the father:


Pre-eclampsia is a serious condition where abnormally high blood pressure and other disturbances develop in the second half of pregnancy. It occurs in 3-5% of pregnancies and is dangerous for both mother and child.

Researchers in Norway used birth registry data to study whether men and women who are born after pre-eclamptic pregnancies pass on this risk to the next generation, compared with those who had no familyhistory of pre-eclampsia.

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They found that daughters of women who had pre-eclampsia during pregnancy had more than twice the risk of pre-eclampsia themselves compared with other women. Men born after a pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia also had a moderately increased risk of fathering a pre-eclamptic pregnancy.

These associations were stronger for the more severe types of pre-eclampsia.
from:   (www.sciencedaily.com)