What should you eat while pregnant?

USDA FoodData Central. Foods are the ones ACOG lists for each nutrient. Vitamin D in milk is from fortification. Pregnancy targets differ from the standard label Daily Values, so this table shows amounts only.

What to avoid

• Level E ACOG: Do not eat bigeye tuna, king mackerel, marlin, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, or tilefish. ACOG, Nutrition During Pregnancy (FAQ), accessed 2026-10-12
• Level E ACOG: Some multivitamin ingredients, such as vitamin A, can cause birth defects if you double or triple the dose. ACOG, Nutrition During Pregnancy (FAQ), accessed 2026-10-12

Amounts and limits

• Level E ACOG: You should eat two or three servings of fish or shellfish per week before getting pregnant, while pregnant, and while breastfeeding. ACOG, Nutrition During Pregnancy (FAQ), accessed 2026-10-12
• Level E ACOG: Limit white (albacore) tuna to only 6 oz a week. ACOG, Nutrition During Pregnancy (FAQ), accessed 2026-10-12

What to choose

• Level E ACOG: In addition to taking a prenatal vitamin with iron, you should eat iron-rich foods like beans, lentils, enriched breakfast cereals, beef, turkey, liver, and shrimp. ACOG, Nutrition During Pregnancy (FAQ), accessed 2026-10-12
• Level E ACOG: Milk and other dairy products, such as cheese and yogurt, are the best sources of calcium. ACOG, Nutrition During Pregnancy (FAQ), accessed 2026-10-12
• Level E ACOG: Choline can be found in chicken, beef, eggs, milk, soy products, and peanuts. ACOG, Nutrition During Pregnancy (FAQ), accessed 2026-10-12
• Level E ACOG: Good sources of vitamin D include fortified milk and breakfast cereal, fatty fish (salmon and mackerel), fish liver oils, and egg yolks. ACOG, Nutrition During Pregnancy (FAQ), accessed 2026-10-12
• Level E ACOG: Flaxseed (ground or as oil) is also a good source of omega-3s. ACOG, Nutrition During Pregnancy (FAQ), accessed 2026-10-12

Text in quotation marks is word for word from the official source. Level E means the position of an expert body or a drug label. How we grade evidence.

Evidence behind the advice

• Level A In the Cochrane review of 57 trials in 48,971 pregnant women, daily iron cut anemia from 7.4 percent to 4.0 percent. Finkelstein et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2024
• Level A A 2018 Cochrane review found omega-3 in pregnancy cut preterm birth by 11% and early preterm birth before 34 weeks by 42%, with high-quality evidence. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2018
• Level A A 2022 systematic review judged extra maternal choline of 550 mg up to 1 g a day in the second half of pregnancy safe and likely helpful for some child memory and attention measures. Adv Nutr, 2022

The other side and the limits

• Level A A 2025 systematic review of 4 randomized trials and 5 cohorts found the evidence insufficient to say whether more choline in pregnancy improves child brain development. Nutrients, 2025
• Level A The Cochrane review found very few differences in children's cognition, IQ, vision or behavior after their mothers took omega-3 in pregnancy, mostly on low-quality evidence. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2018
• Level A The US Preventive Services Task Force concluded the evidence is insufficient to weigh the benefits and harms of screening pregnant women for iron deficiency or routinely supplementing them with iron. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Health Professional Fact Sheet: Iron

Levels: A is a meta-analysis of trials, B a randomized trial, C an observational study, D lab work or case reports, E an expert position. How we grade evidence.

A simple week built on the ACOG list: beans or lentils a few times, two or three fish meals from the lower-mercury list, an egg most mornings cooked until the yolk and white are firm, and pasteurized milk, yogurt or cheese every day. A cup of cooked lentils has about 6.6 mg of iron, and a cup of plain low-fat yogurt about 448 mg of calcium.

Some foods ACOG calls iron-rich carry less than you might expect per serving. In the table, 3 oz of turkey has about 0.6 mg of iron and 3 oz of beef about 2.2 mg, while a cup of cooked lentils has 6.6 mg and a cup of kidney beans 3.9 mg.

Food does not replace the prenatal vitamin ACOG recommends, and ACOG warns against doubling multivitamins because of vitamin A. Choline evidence is still mixed, as the studies below show. For the foods to skip and their safe versions, see our page on foods to avoid while pregnant.

Evidence behind this note

1. Level A In the Cochrane review of 57 trials in 48,971 pregnant women, daily iron cut anemia from 7.4 percent to 4.0 percent. Finkelstein et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2024
2. Level A A 2025 systematic review of 4 randomized trials and 5 cohorts found the evidence insufficient to say whether more choline in pregnancy improves child brain development. Nutrients, 2025

Written from the positions and data on this page, reviewed by the Bioma editorial system. How we verify.

• Foods to avoid while pregnant
• Can you eat fish while pregnant?
• What to eat while breastfeeding
• Lentils: what the research says
• Kidney beans: what the research says
• Salmon: what the research says
• Yogurt: what the research says
• Milk: what the research says
• Tofu: what the research says
• Peanuts: what the research says