BlueRibbonBaby.org for the proper prenatal diet to prevent toxemia. Salt is a vital nutrient. No woman, expectant or otherwise, can live without it. Neither can the unborn baby, who receives sodium from his mother's blood stream, through the placenta. Sodium requirements vary widely depending on activity level, environmental conditions, personal health, and many more factors.
Pregnancy is one condition where the body actually requires MORE salt in order to remain healthy.
Each person has many finely tuned mechanisms that work in the body to preserve the appropriate concentration of sodium in the tissues and in the bloodstream. Salt is a chief element in maintaining this dramatically expanded blood volume. Salt causes the body to retain fluid, which, under normal conditions, is retained in the bloodstream for use in placental perfusion. Salt restriction during pregnancy limits the normal expansion of the blood volume, with disastrous consequences. Under these conditions, the baby's growth, development and even life are imperiled.