Brigid TitgemeierBeingBrigid Functional Nutrition · Transforming Women's Health Using Food as Medicine

Why Pregnancy Needs More Protein Than You Think with Jessie Inchauspé

30 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Jessie Inchauspé explains that protein is essential not only for muscle but for building all organs and tissues, noting that a newborn is about 50% protein (excluding water). She highlights the substantial protein needs during pregnancy to construct the baby from scratch, and presents scientifically derived daily protein recommendations based on body weight: 1.2 g/kg in the first trimester, 1.5 g/kg in the second and third trimesters, and 1.9 g/kg while breastfeeding. She emphasizes the surprising insight that breastfeeding demands more protein than pregnancy itself.

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protein is not just about muscles. Protein builds all of our organs, our tissues, is very, very important. And by the time a baby is born, he is, if you exclude water, 50% protein. So you need a lot of protein when you're pregnant to build your baby in your uterus from scratch. We now have better scientific methods that are pointing to the requirements being the following: 1.2 grams of protein per kilo of body weight per day in the first trimester, 1.5 in the second and third trimester, and 1.9 if you're breastfeeding per day, because breastfeeding requires even more protein than pregnancy alone. And I found this to be really fascinating. I had never thought about that. I never thought that breastfeeding would be even more demanding on the body and on your nutritional requirements than pregnancy itself.