Is asparagus good during pregnancy?

Yes, as a vegetable, and it is no substitute for folic acid. We found no trial or review of asparagus in pregnancy. What asparagus brings is folate, and the folate evidence is strong for the supplement. A Cochrane review of 5 randomized trials in 6,708 births found that daily folic acid around conception cut neural tube defects by about two thirds, a risk ratio of 0.31 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.58), on high quality evidence. Raw asparagus holds 175 mcg of folate per 3.5 oz (100 g) in the UK composition tables.

Established. Folic acid taken around conception prevents most neural tube defects. That is a trial result for tablets. It tells you why folate matters in early pregnancy, and it says nothing about how much asparagus would do the same job, because nobody has tested that.

What the trials found

Folic acid and neural tube defects

The Cochrane review above pooled trials of folic acid alone or with other vitamins and minerals, against no treatment, placebo, or vitamins without folate. It found no clear effect on other birth defects. A 2025 umbrella review of 10 meta-analyses covering 296,816 participants reached the same direction, with a pooled estimate of 0.23 (0.09 to 0.37) for folic acid. The abstract does not say whether that is a risk ratio or an odds ratio. The studies inside it varied widely, and they mix trials with observational data, so it counts here as weaker evidence than the Cochrane review.

Food folate does count

A Bayesian meta-analysis of 36 studies in healthy women aged 12 to 49 found that every 10 percent more folate from food raised red blood cell folate by about 6 percent (95% credible interval 4 to 9 percent). It pooled trials and observational studies together, so it sits at a lower level of evidence than the Cochrane review. It shows that folate from vegetables such as asparagus reaches the blood. It does not show that food alone gets a pregnant woman to the level the folic acid trials reached.

Birth weight

A meta-analysis of 8 randomized trials in pregnant women found birth weight rose about 2 percent for every doubling of total folate intake, counting folic acid and food folate together. Length of pregnancy did not change. The authors note how few good studies exist. The abstract does not translate the 2 percent into grams.

Pregnancy uses more folate

In a New York feeding study, 26 women in the third trimester, 28 breastfeeding women and 21 women who were neither ate 750 mcg of folic acid plus 400 mcg of food folate a day for 10 to 12 weeks. Judged by how much folate they lost in urine, the pregnant women used the most. The groups were compared by life stage rather than randomized, so this is a measurement of need and not a trial of a food.

Asparagus itself

Per 100 g in the UK composition tables, raw asparagus has 175 mcg of folate, grilled 122 mcg and steamed 102 mcg. The tables do not say how long the spears were cooked, so they cannot tell you which method or cooking time keeps the most.

Unsettled. Whether eating asparagus in pregnancy changes anything for the baby is untested. We found no trial of asparagus intake on folate status, neural tube defects, birth weight or any other pregnancy outcome. The case for it rests on folate, and the trials behind folate used tablets.

Who should be careful

There is no upper limit for folate from food. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements says high intakes of folate from food have not been reported to cause harm, and the limit that exists applies to folic acid from supplements and fortified foods. A plate of asparagus is not a folate overdose.

Not for everyone. Home-preserved asparagus can carry botulism. Case reports describe two adult women who needed mechanical ventilation and antitoxin after eating home-preserved asparagus, one of them after only tasting it. Both survived. This is rare, it concerns home canning and not fresh spears, and the reports are not about pregnancy.

Fresh asparagus can carry gut parasites. In 150 bundles sampled from markets in Sonora, Mexico, Cryptosporidium was found in 29 percent, Giardia in 5 percent and Cyclospora in 3 percent, with more contamination in open-air market produce than in export grade. That is one region, and it is a reason to wash and cook spears. The study did not look at pregnant women or at illness, only at what was on the spears.

Shatavari, sold as a herbal supplement, comes from a different plant, Asparagus racemosus. Nothing on this page applies to it.

What expert bodies say

The Food and Nutrition Board, quoted by the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, advises every woman who could become pregnant to take 400 mcg of folic acid a day from supplements, fortified foods or both, in addition to food folate from a varied diet. Asparagus belongs in that varied diet. It does not stand in for the 400 mcg. We found no page from ACOG or the RCOG about asparagus in pregnancy.

How we searched

What would change this answer

• A trial or cohort measuring blood folate in pregnant women who eat asparagus or other high folate vegetables, alongside folic acid, to show what the food adds.
• An update of the Cochrane folic acid review. The current one dates from 2015.

More on asparagus itself: the asparagus page. More on the nutrient: the folate guide.

Sources

1. ev-asppg-01 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials · n = 6708
   The results of the first comparison involving 6708 births with information on NTDs and other infant outcomes, show a protective effect of daily folic acid supplementation (alone or in combination with other vitamins and minerals) in preventing NTDs compared with no interventions/placebo or vitamins and minerals without folic acid (risk ratio (RR) 0.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.17 to 0.58); five studies; 6708 births; high quality evidence).
   
   Who: women taking periconceptional folate supplements alone or with other vitamins and minerals vs none, placebo or micronutrients without folate
   Effect: neural tube defects RR 0.31 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.58); five studies; high quality evidence; no clear effect on other birth defects
   Certainty: About folic acid supplements, not asparagus. Explains why folate matters in pregnancy and why asparagus does not replace a supplement.
   Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2015 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
2. ev-asppg-02 · Observational data · umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses · n = 296816
   In the subgroup analysis, the pooled effect was found to be 0.23 (0.09, 0.37) in folic acid group, while this estimate is 0.63 (0.53, 0.72) and 0.61 (0.46, 0.75) in groups who took multivitamin.
   
   Who: women taking prenatal folic acid and/or multivitamin supplements; 10 systematic reviews and meta-analyses
   Effect: pooled effect 0.23 (0.09 to 0.37) in folic acid group; 0.63 (0.53 to 0.72) with multivitamins; overall 0.43 (0.29 to 0.58), I2 93.5%
   Certainty: High heterogeneity; combines MAs of RCTs and observational studies, hence C (No. 6 downgraded from A); the measure (RR/OR) is not named in the annotation; about supplements, not food.
   Neuroepidemiology, 2025 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
3. ev-asppg-03 · Observational data · systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis of trials and observational studies · n = 36 studies
   For the six studies using microbiologic assay (MA) included in the meta-analysis, we estimate that a 6% (95% Credible Interval (CrI): 4%, 9%) increase in red blood cell (RBC) folate concentration and a 7% (95% CrI: 1%, 12%) increase in serum/plasma folate concentration can occur for every 10% increase in natural food folate intake.
   
   Who: healthy females aged 12 to 49 years; 7 controlled trials and 29 observational studies, 6 microbiologic-assay studies pooled
   Effect: +6% RBC folate (95% CrI 4% to 9%) and +7% serum folate (1% to 12%) per 10% more natural food folate; modeled >= 450 ug DFE/day could reach RBC folate ~1050 nmol/L
   Certainty: Synthesis of mixed designs, hence C. Model estimate of the threshold. Shows that dietary folate (including from asparagus) counts but does not replace a supplement.
   Nutrients, 2015 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
4. ev-asppg-04 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of RCTs · n = 8 RCTs (10 studies)
   This relationship indicated 2% increase in birth weight for every two-fold increase in folate intake.
   
   Who: pregnant women in RCTs of folate supplementation; intake as folic acid plus dietary folate
   Effect: beta 0.03 (95% CI 0.01 to 0.05) on log-log scale, about 2% higher birth weight per two-fold folate intake; no effect on placental weight or length of gestation
   Certainty: Small number of RCTs, the authors themselves write about the lack of quality studies.
   Nutr J, 2012 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
5. ev-asppg-05 · Observational data · controlled feeding study comparing physiologic groups · n = 75
   Based on urinary folate excretion, folate use was greatest to least: pregnant > lactating > nonpregnant women.
   
   Who: third-trimester pregnant (n = 26), lactating (n = 28) and nonpregnant (n = 21) women, New York
   Effect: folate use pregnant > lactating > nonpregnant by urinary excretion; study-end serum folate ~30 ng/mL in all groups
   Certainty: Groups were not randomized relative to each other (comparison by condition), hence C, although PubMed marks it as an RCT.
   Am J Clin Nutr, 2012 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
6. ev-asppg-06 · Position of an expert body · government fact sheet · n = —
   The FNB advises all women and adolescents who are capable of becoming pregnant to “consume 400 mcg of folic acid daily from supplements, fortified foods, or both in addition to consuming food folate from a varied diet” [2].
   
   Who: women and adolescents capable of becoming pregnant
   Effect: 400 mcg/day folic acid from supplements, fortified foods or both, in addition to food folate
   Certainty: Asparagus is a source of dietary folate that comes IN ADDITION, not instead.
   NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Folate Fact Sheet for Health Professionals · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the section
7. ev-asppg-07 · Position of an expert body · government fact sheet · n = —
   The FNB did not establish a UL for folate from food because high intakes of folate from food sources have not been reported to cause adverse effects [2].
   
   Who: general population including pregnancy
   Effect: no UL for food folate; UL for synthetic folic acid 1,000 mcg in adults
   Certainty: You cannot overdose on folate from asparagus; caution applies to supplements above the UL.
   NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Folate Fact Sheet for Health Professionals · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the section
8. ev-asppg-08 · Position of an expert body · measured British composition values for the same vegetable raw, steamed and grilled · n = three CoFID asparagus entries
   CoFID 13-157 Asparagus, raw — Folate 175 µg · Vitamin C 12 mg · Potassium 260 mg · Thiamin 0.16 mg || CoFID 13-638 Asparagus, steamed — 102 · 8 · 283 · 0.09 || CoFID 13-639 Asparagus, grilled — 122 · 10 · 339 · 0.11
   
   Who: Asparagus raw, steamed and grilled in CoFID
   Effect: per 3.5 oz (100 g) folate: raw 175 ug, steamed 102 ug, grilled 122 ug
   Certainty: Number per 3.5 oz (100 g); FNDDS: 1 spear ~16 g, cup 180 g. Attribution: CoFID 2021, Public Health England / OGL v3.0
   CoFID 2021, Public Health England / OGL v3.0 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the dataset
9. ev-asppg-09 · Laboratory or animal data · case series · n = 2
   We report botulism in two adult females, one of them just tasting from "bad" asparagus and the other eating the full portion.
   
   Who: two adult women who ate home-preserved asparagus
   Effect: both needed intermittent mechanical ventilation and trivalent antitoxin; both survived
   Certainty: Rare; about home canning, not fresh asparagus. For pregnant women: avoid questionable home-canned foods.
   Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther, 2006 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
10. ev-asppg-10 · Observational data · cross-sectional sampling study · n = 150 bundles
    The pathogens Cryptosporidium spp. (29%) G. intestinalis (5%) and Cyclospora spp. (3%) were found in the asparagus sold in the region.
    
    Who: fresh asparagus bundles: 50 export, 50 sub-standard, 50 open-air market, Sonora, Mexico
    Effect: Cryptosporidium spp. 29%, Giardia intestinalis 5%, Cyclospora spp. 3%
    Certainty: A single region; an argument to wash and cook asparagus, especially in pregnancy.
    Trop Biomed, 2019 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract