Why You Need Fat During Pregnancy

Fat gets a bad rap, but this macronutrient is an essential part of everyone’s diet. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning they can only be digested, absorbed and stored with fat. Some fat stored in your brain and body is necessary for nerve function. And fat in your diet can actually help build your baby’s brain, too.

Pregnant women, says the USDA, should get about 8 percent of their calories from fat. This isn’t much, though, and works out to about 170 calories of the recommended daily 2,200, or less than two tablespoons of butter.

But while most of us get more than enough fat in our diets, it’s not always the kind that contains essential nutrients. Many oils, butters and spreads are empty calories, but many are high in vitamin E or have one of the two fatty acids essential to nutrition, ALA (an omega-3 fatty acid) and linolenic acid (an omega-6).

Here’s a guide to some of the more nutritious oils and the nutrients they contain.