A Vegetable Intake Guide for Expectant Mothers | How to Supplement Folate and Iron with Dried Vegetables

What you will learn from this article

• The Daily Vegetable Intake Needed During Pregnancy and the Nutrients That Tend to Fall Short
• How to Choose Vegetables That Efficiently Provide Folate and Iron
• Ways to Use Dried Vegetables That You Can Keep Up Even During Morning Sickness
• Recommended Recipes and Ways to Eat by Pregnancy Stage
• Tips for Time-Saving Cooking with Dried Vegetables

“Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I can’t stop worrying about food”—we at Agriture often hear voices like this.

You hear that folate and iron are important, but there are times when morning sickness makes even standing in the kitchen hard. Many people have had the experience of buying lots of fresh vegetables only to throw them out because they felt too unwell to use them up.

In fact, by using dried vegetables well, you can greatly cut down on cooking effort while still taking in the nutrients you need. This article carefully explains vegetable intake during pregnancy, based on obstetric recommended amounts, right down to specific ways to eat.

How Much Vegetable Intake Is Needed During Pregnancy?

The Meaning of the 350 g a Day Recommended by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s “Health Japan 21” sets the daily vegetable-intake target for adults at 350 g or more. This is the same for pregnant women—if anything, during pregnancy you need to take them in more consciously for the developing baby.

350 g is about three to four servings of a two-handful fresh-vegetable salad. Honestly, it’s an amount that’s hard to hit even normally.

In fact, according to the Ministry’s National Health and Nutrition Survey, the average vegetable intake for women in their 20s and 30s is about 240 g—not even reaching 70% of the target.

Nutrients That Tend to Fall Short During Pregnancy

Here we’ve summarized the nutrients to take in consciously during pregnancy and the vegetables rich in them.

ここで注目してほしいのが、葉酸と鉄分です。この2つは妊娠前より多く必要になりますが、普段の食事だけではなかなか足りません。

Nutritional Priorities Change by Pregnancy Stage

Depending on the pregnancy stage, the nutrients to prioritize change.

Choosing Vegetables and Cooking Methods to Take In Folate Efficiently

Top 5 Vegetables Rich in Folate

As the name suggests (in Japanese, “yōsan” written with the character for “leaf”), folate is abundant in green leafy vegetables.

How Do You Protect Folate Lost to Heating?

Folate is a water-soluble vitamin, so it tends to leach out into the boiling water. Boil it for a long time and as much as nearly 50% can be lost.

Here’s the key point: because dried vegetables have already gone through blanching (a brief heat treatment) during manufacture, additional heating at cooking time is minimal. Add them straight to soup or miso soup, and you take in even the folate that has leached out, all in the soup—so nothing is wasted.

Which Matters More, Folate Supplements or Diet?

Some people think, “I’m taking supplements, so a few vegetables are enough,” but frankly, that’s a mistake.

Supplement folate (the monoglutamate form) has high absorption, while dietary folate (the polyglutamate form) has the benefit of coming together with dietary fiber and other vitamins. The ideal is to supply it through both “supplements plus diet.”

鉄分不足を防ぐ｜妊婦さんの貧血が気になる時の野菜と食べ合わせ

Why Does Anemia Occur During Pregnancy?

妊娠すると、赤ちゃんに栄養を届けるために血液量が増えます。ところが赤血球の増加は追いつきにくく、血液が薄まった状態になりやすいんです。

妊娠中期以降は、鉄の必要量が増えます。これを食事だけで摂るのはかなり大変で、妊婦さんの貧血は珍しくありません。

Tips for Efficiently Absorbing Plant-Based Iron (Non-Heme Iron)

The iron in vegetables is called “non-heme iron,” and on its own its absorption rate is low, at about 2–5%. But just by being clever about food pairings, you can raise the absorption rate considerably.

Conversely, the tannins in tea and coffee hinder iron absorption, so it’s recommended to avoid them for 30 minutes before and after meals.

Ways to Use Dried Vegetables Rich in Iron

Agritureで人気のある乾燥小松菜は、水分が抜けて鉄分が凝縮されています。水で戻すと生に近い量になり、少量でたっぷりの栄養を手軽に摂れるのが魅力です。

Just adding a pinch of dried komatsuna to your miso soup lets you easily add iron and calcium.

Keep It Up Even During Morning Sickness! Nutrition-Intake Techniques Using Dried Vegetables

Why Dried Vegetables Are Suited to Morning Sickness

Many people say fresh vegetables are hard to handle during morning sickness. In particular, there are three hurdles: “the smell makes me nauseous,” “I can’t stand in the kitchen,” and “the things I can eat are limited.”

Here we’ve summarized why dried vegetables can solve these problems.

3 Easy Recipes for During Morning Sickness

1. Dried-Vegetable Ochazuke Style

Just place dried spinach and dried carrot on top of rice and pour over warm dashi broth. It goes down smoothly even when you have no appetite.

2. Instant Miso Soup with Dried Vegetables

Add dried komatsuna and dried green onion to store-bought instant miso soup. Pour hot water and wait 3 minutes, and the nutritional value jumps up.

3. Chilled Tomato Soup + Dried Vegetables

Just soak dried cabbage in tomato juice for about 15 minutes and adjust with salt and pepper. It can be eaten cold, so it’s also recommended for times when you’re sensitive to smells.

Dried-Vegetable Stock Management

Since your condition fluctuates a lot during pregnancy, a realistic approach is “shop in bulk on good days” and “get by with dried vegetables on bad days.”

Agriture’s dried vegetables keep for about six months unopened. Since they don’t take up refrigerator space, keeping several kinds in stock is reassuring.

Recommended Vegetables and Ways to Incorporate Dried Vegetables by Pregnancy Stage

Early Pregnancy (Through Week 15): A Folate-Focused Meal Plan

Early pregnancy is a crucial period when the baby’s brain and spinal cord form. Prioritize folate above all.

It often overlaps with the period of severe morning sickness, so rather than forcing yourself to eat large amounts, the trick is to keep in mind “high-nutrition items even in small amounts.”

Mid-Pregnancy (Weeks 16–27): A Period to Boost Iron and Calcium

This period, when morning sickness eases, is a prime chance to get your dietary balance in order. Consciously increase iron and calcium.

Dried komatsuna is an excellent ingredient that contains both iron and calcium. Just adding it to your daily miso soup or simmered dishes lets you supplement both nutrients at once.

Late Pregnancy (Week 28 Onward): Constipation Measures and Weight Management

In late pregnancy the uterus grows and presses on the intestines, so more people struggle with constipation. This is the period when dried vegetables rich in dietary fiber, like burdock and daikon, come into play.

Dried burdock contains a good balance of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber, and using it in kinpira or takikomi gohan naturally leads to improved bowel movements.

Also, weight management is a concern in this period. Dried vegetables are low in calories and rich in dietary fiber, so you can feel full while keeping calories down.

The Safety of Dried Vegetables | Are They Okay to Eat During Pregnancy?

Any Concerns About Additives or Pesticides?

During pregnancy, you worry about everything you put in your mouth. Agriture’s dried vegetables use domestically grown vegetables from Kyoto and elsewhere, and are made without additives.

Dried vegetables are generally made through the process of “washing → cutting → blanching → drying.” Because most residual pesticides are removed at the blanching (brief heating) stage, there’s even a view that they’re safer than fresh vegetables.

How Does the Nutritional Value of Dried Vegetables Compare with Fresh?

Some worry, “Doesn’t drying reduce the nutrients?” but in reality that’s not necessarily so.

What matters is that dried vegetables “can be used right when you want them,” which ultimately raises how often you eat vegetables. Far more important than fine nutritional figures is keeping up a steady, daily intake of vegetables.

Points to Note on Storage and Shelf Life

After opening, avoid moisture and store in a zip bag or airtight container. Kept out of direct sunlight, they stay tasty for about a month even after opening.

It’s easy to overlook, but once dried vegetables are rehydrated, they’re treated the same as fresh vegetables. Once rehydrated, use them up the same day.

Summary

Vegetable intake during pregnancy is very important for the health of both the baby and yourself. To organize what we’ve covered so far, the key points to keep in mind are as follows.

• 1日350gの野菜摂取を目指しつつ、葉酸と鉄分を特に意識
• Boost folate efficiency with cooking methods that let you take it in with the liquid, such as soups
• Iron’s absorption rises when taken together with vitamin C or protein
• During morning sickness, prioritize “keeping it up without strain” by using dried vegetables
• Change the nutrients you focus on according to the pregnancy stage

You don’t need to aim for a perfect diet. Eat well on good days, and cover the minimum nutrition with dried vegetables on hard days—I think that “easygoing but long-lasting” stance is the trick to getting through pregnancy in good health.

FAQ

Q1: During pregnancy, can I get all the folate I need in a day from dried vegetables alone?

乾燥野菜だけで1日分の葉酸を摂るのは現実的ではありません。葉酸サプリメントを基本としながら、乾燥ほうれん草やブロッコリーなどで食事からも補うのが理想的です。食事性の葉酸には、サプリでは摂れない食物繊維やほかの栄養素も含まれているのがメリットですね。

Q2: My morning sickness is severe and I can’t eat anything. From when can I try dried vegetables?

As long as you can take in fluids, you can start by adding a small amount of dried vegetables to a thin soup. Since they’re almost odorless, many people find the hurdle lower than with fresh vegetables. However, if your morning sickness is so severe you can’t even take in fluids, first consult your doctor.

Q3: Do dried vegetables contain additives? Are they safe during pregnancy?

Agriture’s dried vegetables use domestically grown vegetables and are made additive-free. Since blanching during the drying process greatly reduces residual pesticides, you can use them with confidence during pregnancy.

Q4: Are there tricks to rehydrating dried vegetables?

The guideline is 5–10 minutes in water, or 3–5 minutes in hot water. When adding them to miso soup or soup, you can put them straight into the pot without rehydrating first—they rehydrate naturally while simmering. Since you can take in water-soluble nutrients like folate along with the soup, using them in soups is recommended.

Q5: Are there vegetables I should avoid during pregnancy?

There’s almost no need to completely avoid particular vegetables, but you do need to watch out for excessive intake of vitamin A. Retinol, abundant in liver and eel, is the issue, but the beta-carotene in vegetables is converted to vitamin A only as much as the body needs, so there’s virtually no worry of excess from eating vegetables.

Q6: My husband cooks for me—can even someone not used to cooking use dried vegetables?

Dried vegetables need no knife and can be cooked just by pouring hot water, so they’re perfect even for cooking beginners. There are plenty of foolproof ways to use them—as a miso-soup ingredient, added to cup soup, mixed into stir-fries, and more. Your partner can give it a try with ease, too.

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