What causes fetal growth restriction during pregnancy? Compelling links to placental calcifications, placental insufficiency, preeclampsia, placental abruption, and more...

Posted By Jennifer Shipp | Mar 06, 2023

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Intrauterine Growth Restriction / Fetal Growth Restriction, Preeclampsia, Placental Insufficiency, and Placental Calcification: What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You

Fetal growth restriction, also known as intrauterine growth restriction, is a situation in which the fetus is not achieving its full growth potential at specific times during pregnancy. These terms, “fetal growth restriction” and “intrauterine growth restriction” are used interchangeably by doctors and scientists to talk about fetal size that’s below average. If a fetus is in the lowest 10th percentile in terms of its size and abdominal circumference in an ultrasound, fetal growth restriction or intrauterine growth restriction is the diagnosis. Early-onset intrauterine growth restriction is diagnosed prior to 32 weeks gestation, but an intrauterine growth restriction diagnosis can be diagnosed at any time prior to birth. Intrauterine growth restriction is a relatively common problem affecting up to 10% of pregnancies. Fetuses affected by intrauterine growth restriction / fetal growth restriction are at increased risk of perinatal death. Indeed, if you look at some of the major placental abnormalities like preeclampsia, placental insufficiency, and placental calcifications, that are all closely related to each other through specific nutrient deficiencies that they all have in common as causative agents, that 10% mortality rate goes much higher. These are scary statistics for pregnant women who have no information about the various nutrient deficiencies that lead to these pregnancy-related complications. But for women who know about nutrients like iodine during pregnancy, vitamin K2, and other supportive nutrients that enhance absorption and usage of iodine and vitamin K2, the relationship between placental calcification, placental insufficiency, preeclampsia, and intrauterine growth restriction begins to come into focus. These pregnancy-related diseases all seem to stem, in most cases, from nutritional deficiencies that can be corrected.

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Health Problems Associated with Fetal Growth Restriction

Newborn babies that were diagnosed previously with fetal growth restriction are at a higher risk of developing certain health problems. As these children grow older, they may have abnormal growth patterns as well as any of the following health issues:

Feeding problems
Temperature instability
Glucose instability
Jaundice
Cardiac disorders
Metabolic disorders
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Reproductive disorders
Psychiatric disorders
Intraventricular hemorrhage
Hypoxia
Necrotizing enterocolitis
Ischemic encephalopathy
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Sepsis
Autism
Death

Fetal growth restriction / intrauterine growth restriction are four times more likely to occur in pregnancies involving placental calcifications. Calcification of the placenta in pregnancy involves small, circle-shaped deposits of calcium buildup that cause the placenta to deteriorate more quickly than it should. Many doctors claim that calcification of the placenta is normal at around week 36. Prior to this time, it is NOT considered to be normal, however, even in our modern society. And I just want to say that it may NOT actually be normal for the placenta to develop calcifications at week 36-38 either. Apparently, just over 50% of placentas develop calcifications even at full term. So that tells us that just under 50% of placentas do NOT develop calcifications. Maybe Big Pharma just wants pregnant women and their doctors to believe that placental calcifications are normal in the hopes that no one will pay too much attention to this growing problem and discover how to prevent it.

Essentially, in our modern world, things like organophosphate insecticides and GMO food staples that don’t contain vitamin K2 / Menaquinone -7 (MK-7)and other essential nutrients would be one of the main causes of placental calcification. The ubiquitous nature of insecticides and GMO plants would definitely ensure that a large proportion of the women exposed to GMOs and organophosphates have placental calcifications, making it seem “normal” even though it is NOT normal for the placenta to calcify.

In conventional medicine, doctors use a flawed form of logic to explain the cause of placental calcifications by saying that they occur because of placental abruption, for example. In women whose placenta becomes separated from the wall of the uterus, placental calcifications are blamed on the placental abruption when, in fact, the placental abruption and the placental calcifications are likely due to the same foundational cause: deficiency of vitamin K2.

The same argument is often thrown at pregnant patients who have pregnancy-induced hypertension: the placental calcification is due to the pregnancy-induced hypertension according to doctors. This doesn’t make any sense, but most patients still accept the doctor’s response, assuming that they’ don’t have enough information to really go to bat against it. Once again, it’s easy to imagine how calcification and hardening of the mother’s blood vessels would occur if the nutrient, vitamin K2, that shuttles calcium into the bones and teeth, were completely used up in the process of building a new human being. And once vitamin K2 is used up, if mothers are still obediently taking their prescribed prenatal multivitamin, which most certainly contains plenty of vitamin D2 or D3, plenty of calcium (neither of which are needed or helpful during pregnancy in a prenatal vitamin), and no vitamin K2, they’re in a position to develop atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, preeclampsia, placental calcifications, and placental abruption among other things.

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Women who are deficient in vitamin K2 should not take vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 and they certainly shouldn’t take vitamin D2 or D3 with calcium if they’re deficient in vitamin K2 and also being exposed to organophosphate insecticides. So, if you’re trying to understand reasons for placental calcifications, this calculated nutrient imbalance is the place to start. Read more here about how taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy can harm you and your baby if you’re deficient in vitamin K2.

Calcium and phosphate work together in several different settings in the body and the story of these star-crossed, biochemical soul mates is fundamental to both our hard-structure (including bones and teeth) as well as our function (calcium and phosphate work together in the production of ATP as well). As a pregnant woman, the balance of calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin K2 is something fundamental to the process of creating a new human being with both form and life.

Below, we give a summary of calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin K2 to round out this picture and make it easier to understand why placental calcifications occur during pregnancy.

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Calcium

The calcium that your body needs is found in natural foods like vegetables and fruits. There’s so much calcium in living, whole foods, that you should never need to take a calcium supplement in your entire life, even during pregnancy. Indeed, taking calcium will inhibit iron absorption as well as iodine absorption and that can lead to serious health problems in both mother and child during pregnancy. Click here to read more about iodine during pregnancy and why iodine must be taken with vitamin K2 and other supportive nutrients in order for it to work properly in the body.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a nutrient that was ushered into the pantheon of nutrients by Big Pharma. Our bodies produce vitamin D naturally when the skin is exposed to sunlight, so we don’t need to take a nutrient supplement of vitamin D as long as we get at least 30 minutes to an hour of sun exposure daily (without sunscreen or heavy clothing). In northern latitudes, vitamin D supplementation may be necessary, but only if the northerner in question is not eating fatty fish or high-fat animal foods that contain vitamin D. So one might begin to wonder why Big Pharma is constantly promoting vitamin D as a cure-all for practically every disease on the planet. Maybe it’s because vitamin D enhances already existing iodine deficiency issues that inevitably lead to very profitable disease states such as autoimmunity or cancer.

Click here to read more about how women are using Lugol’s iodine 2% to cure breast cancer naturally as well as other reproductive organ cancers and thyroid cancer.

Vitamin K2

If you are deficient in vitamin K2 and you also have a lot of vitamin D in your body from supplements and if you have a lot of calcium in your diet from supplements and antacid medications, your body is basically absorbing calcium into the blood supply in unnaturally high quantities and the calcium isn’t able to find its way into the bones and teeth. Vitamin K2 is essential in order for the calcium to find its way into the skeleton and then, once it does, the calcium is available for the body to use in other ways on an as-needed basis. The bones release small amounts of calcium, as needed from the bones if the body needs extra to get through a period of lower levels of calcium in the diet. If your bones are healthy at the beginning of your pregnancy and they’re full of calcium, then your baby won’t suffer for lack of this nutrient even if your diet lacks calcium for periods of time. But if you don’t have enough vitamin K2, the calcium will linger in your blood supply, clogging up blood vessels in the placenta and in other organs of the body which can inhibit blood flow and nutrient transport to the fetus.

Click here to read more about the dangers of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy without a balance of vitamin K2 supplementation to make sure calcium is placed safely in the bones rather than lingering in the blood supply.

Organophosphates and Placental Calcification: What You Need to Know

In the human body, an inorganic phosphate is the healthy form of phosphates. You need plenty of inorganic phosphates to pair up with calcium ions in the body to accomplish some of the most fundamental goals of our physical survival. Calcium and phosphate are never far from each other in the body. In the bones and teeth, they form a crystalline matrix that is incredibly strong and yet flexible to protect our bodies from bone fractures and dental problems. Plenty of vitamin K2 during the early part of a baby’s life ensures that the child will have a proper jaw structure such that he/she won’t need orthodontic assistance or even dental work later in life. Indeed, if you wish to remineralize dental cavities rather than having them filled at the dental office, there are just a few lifestyle changes in terms of toothpaste with vitamin K2 supplementation that can help you avoid the need for a dentist.

Having healthy levels of calcium in the bones and teeth acts to protect a child to some extent from exposure to organophosphate insecticides. But if the bones are deficient in calcium due to a lack of vitamin K2 acting to shuttle the calcium out of the blood supply into the hard tissues, organophosphates work their way into the bones and teeth into the spaces that are normally occupied by inorganic phosphates.

Unfortunately, studies have shown that a pregnant woman who lives within 1 mile of a field that is treated with organophosphate insecticides is about 60% more likely to give birth to an autistic child. So, organophosphates enter into this vitamin K2, vitamin D, and calcium equation as another layer that contributes to health problems associated with placental calcification and fetal growth restriction. Note that vitamin K2 can protect women and their babies from, at least some of the toxic effects of organophosphate exposure during pregnancy.

In our book, Root Cause: Common Environmental Toxins and How to Protect Yourself from Them, we talk in depth about the link between organophosphate exposure and disease.

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Doctors Are Taught to Ignore Placental Calcifications

If you were given a diagnosis of fetal growth restriction / intrauterine growth restriction and you’re looking for a reason why your baby isn’t growing as it should, placental calcifications are likely at the root of the issue. But you should know that your doctor may have been taught that placental calcification is always normal and he/she should simply ignore the issue and not inform patients about the presence of these round, concentrically-shaped calcifications that build up in the placenta during nutrient deficient pregnancies.

To be fair, viral infections have also been faulted for the buildup of calcium deposits in the placenta, but often, the viral infection in question is colonizing an organ like the liver or the gallbladder because the woman is deficient in iodine. Iodine needs vitamin K2 or else it won’t be absorbed into the body. Both mother and baby need plenty of iodine, or else the immunity of both suffers and a long list of health problems can develop. Indeed, we can’t survive without iodine and since bromide-containing insecticides are used with the same vigorous frequency as organophosphate insecticides in the developed world, it really isn’t productive to supplement with vitamin K2 without also supplementing with iodine.

Click here to read more about iodine supplementation during pregnancy.

Vitamin K2 is the nutrient substance that ensures that calcium is placed in the bones and teeth rather than in soft tissues such as the blood vessels or the placenta. But most people have never even heard of vitamin K2. And with the creation of GMO plant products, vitamin K2 became infinitely more scarce in the food supply. People used to have gut flora that produced at least small quantities of vitamin K2, but alas, these have been decimated by antibiotics and vaccines. The loss of vitamin K2 heralds the beginning of society-wide issues like dental problems, orthodontic issues, osteoporosis, atherosclerosis, leukemia, cancer, pineal gland calcification (which is associated with autism and other autoimmune diseases), and a wide array of other disease states involving the calcification of soft tissues. Placental calcification is just one of these health problems and an important sign that shouldn’t be ignored or cast aside as inconsequential. Babies who are born with a calcified placenta likely also have calcifications of soft tissues and blood vessels. They need to be given vitamin K2 supplementation either via their mother’s milk or through the careful adherence to a baby formula recipe such as that provided by Weston A. Price.

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Placental Calcification and Fetal Growth Restriction

It makes sense, that a placenta with calcified blood vessels would restrict blood food to the fetus, cutting off much of the food supply such that the fetus is not able to grow and develop properly. And indeed, studies show that women with placental calcification are 25% more likely to be diagnosed with fetal growth restriction. So that’s a compelling link between fetal growth restriction and placental calcification. But since many doctors are taught to simply ignore placental calcifications, it’s possible that fetal growth restriction and placental calcifications co-occur more often than the statistics would lead us to believe.

Of course, many women who have placental calcifications do not have fetal growth restriction and that’s a possible outcome, of course. But if your placenta has calcifications, all mothers should consider the likely possibility that they and their baby have blood vessel, heart, pineal gland, and soft tissue calcifications that can only be reversed with vitamin K2 and iodine supplementation.

Placental Insufficiency and Placental Calcifications

Placental insufficiency is a diagnosis that means almost the exact same thing as fetal growth restriction or intrauterine growth restriction. In “placental insufficiency”, the fetus is not receiving adequate supplies of nutrients and oxygen. Sound familiar? The semantics involved in these diagnoses is something that I pay close attention to when I’m researching these diseases and clearly, there’s a trend toward using diagnostic labels and phrases that assign a thinly veiled blame to the mother.

The term, “placental insufficiency” suggests that the mother was not able to produce a placenta that is adequate to feed her growing baby. This assignment of blame throws up a smoke screen that basically stops any kind of inquiry into the true cause of placental insufficiency. Mothers who receive this diagnosis go home feeling “insufficient” themselves. And even though doctors may see placental calcifications on an ultrasound indicating that calcifications are the root cause of placental insufficiency, they may not mention this fact to parents because doctors have no knowledge of vitamin K2 as a possible cure for placental insufficiency or placental calcifications.

Nutritional Supplements for Fetal Growth Restriction

Doctors are taught to steer patients away from taking nutritional supplements to treat intrauterine growth restriction / fetal growth restriction, placental insufficiency, and all of the other diagnoses related to this health problem, but if you’re trying to understand why your baby isn’t growing the way that it should inside the womb, it might be helpful for you to expand your research to include all of the diagnoses that we’ve discussed up to this point.

Iodine and Vitamin K2: Cure for Fetal Growth Restriction and More…

GMO plants like corn, soy, and wheat are staple foods which means that people fulfill a large proportion of their caloric needs by eating these products. But GMO plants do not produce the same nutrients as non-GMO plants which leads to predictable health problems. Read more about the health problems caused by GMO foods here. Iodine was once regarded as an essential nutrient for fortification, but in the 1980s it was effectively removed as a meaningful fortifying agent, which marked the beginning of the obesity epidemic and the sharp rise in reproductive organ cancers. It was replaced with another halogen element, bromine / bromide, which, like fluorine / fluoride, is extremely toxic to human health. Note that if, as a woman, you are deficient in iodine and then exposed to even small amounts of fluoride, you may have trouble producing adequate quantities of breast milk. Studies on cows have shown that fluoride accumulates in bone tissue and bromide likely does the same as it is also bioaccumulative and bone tissues are a common site of bioaccumulation. These animal studies were able to demonstrate that even a modest exposure to fluoride during pregnancy caused fluorosis of the bone tissues which then reduced the amount of calcium available in the bones to assist with the calcium demands of milk production. As a result, dairy cows that were exposed to even small amounts of fluoride produced significantly less milk. In women, iodine and vitamin K2 deficiency causes the same effect wherein women develop lactation issues. Iodine and vitamin K2 work together in the body with vitamin K2 supporting the absorption of iodine. Without proper levels of vitamin K2 in the body though, calcium does not get deposited in the bones and teeth where it belongs. Rather, it gets deposited in soft tissues such as the blood vessels, the glands, organs, and yes, the placenta as we’ve already discussed.

Iodine and Vitamin K2 Deficiency During Pregnancy: Ramifications

Calcification of the placenta causes less blood flow to the fetus, which in turn, causes fewer resources to be available to the growing baby. A growing fetus that is attached to and being nourished through a calcified placenta will have less access to oxygen and a lower supply of nutrients. Indeed, a fetus that is living behind a calcified placenta will also be less able to discard toxins. And mothers with calcification of the placenta are in more danger of developing health issues like preeclampsia and pregnancy-induced hypertension. Vitamin K2 is a nutrient that used to be present in much higher quantities in the food supply. The same is true for iodine. A deficiency of vitamin K2 and iodine easily leads to calcification of organs including the placenta. A woman with placental calcifications might be diagnosed with one of several diseases from preeclampsia to fetal growth restriction without ever being told that her placenta has concentric rings of calcium deposits that are causing the final health results diagnosed by her doctor.

Iodine and Vitamin K2 Deficiency in Babies: Ramifications

Lydian and I have been working to research the underlying cause of autism for several years now and we’ve been circling around iodine and vitamin K2 as well as sulfur-containing nutrients like L-Cysteine that plays a vital role in melanin-production in the skin and in the brain. The link between organophosphate exposure during pregnancy and autism is, of course, something that caught our attention, but we’ve also been drawn into studies talking about the relationship between an ethnically pale complexion and autism along with the fact that autistic children often have hearing problems.

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Melanin is found in the skin, the ears, the endocrine glands, and the brain. There’s reason to believe that calcifications of any of the endocrine glands, the pineal gland in particular, could cause autism symptoms, but iodine deficiency can also look like autism, in some cases, particularly if it is combined with bromine toxicity. L-Cysteine is a major detoxifying agent in the body and it also protects the body from radiation exposure via its contribution to melanin. Nonetheless, the relationship between placental calcifications and autism shouldn’t be ignored because it’s possible that autism symptoms could be prevented should the child receive the proper nutrients before it’s too late.

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Placental Calcifications: Reasons

Vitamin K2 is not a well-known nutrient in medical circles. You might wonder how it’s possible for medical doctors and scientists to be in the dark about something as mundane and well-studied as vitamin K2, but a lot of effort goes into putting up smoke screens to hide information like this from the people who need it. Nonetheless, if you’re reading this article, chances are, you or someone you care about has recently discovered that they have a calcified placenta, fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia, placental abruption, or some other type of placental dysfunction. Natural treatments, though available, will likely be completely unknown to your doctor. And if this is your first serious challenge that you’ve faced in conventional medicine, you’re probably wondering why vitamin K2 as a cure for placental calcifications, isn’t something that medical professionals know about.

When I was in my 20s, 30s (my prime childbearing years), I would’ve read the article that I’m writing right now with skepticism…but also hope. I would’ve felt fearful about blindly applying this information about iodine and vitamin K2 to myself if I were pregnant for fear of harming my unborn child. At this point in my life though, I’ve been through at least 5 major health crises with my family (not to mention clients and friends) that would’ve ended in certain death if it weren’t for natural treatments like vitamin K2 and iodine. I know the political environment that permeates conventional medicine and I daily see doctors who are politically “burnt at the stake” for speaking out about this exact cure for placental calcifications and how they get their licenses revoked and their names dragged through the mud. So, when Lydian, as a currently pregnant woman (for example) develops a fairly serious problem like a kidney infection, she and I don’t hesitate to use the natural medicines first. But this view of medicine is something that was hard-won and it didn’t come naturally to me. It would be impossible to recount it all in a short article about natural treatments for placental calcifications and fetal growth restriction, but let’s just say that my early 20s were a time of total, blind trust in the medical establishment followed by some devastating losses as a result of this blindness.

But let’s go back to vitamin K2. A number of doctors believe and assert, for example, that all forms of dementia are “vascular dementia”. Vascular dementia is a neurological problem that develops when the blood supply to the brain is restricted, usually due to calcification in the blood vessels. But there are many forms of dementia including, for example, Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s, to name just two. But what if these two types of dementia were also caused by blood supply restriction? Maybe the blood restriction symptoms vary a bit from person-to-person to produce slightly different forms of dementia that could be given different names by doctors who don’t realize that all dementia is essentially caused by blood flow restriction to the brain. Perhaps the different manifestations of symptoms in these dementias are due to secondary issues. Let’s say that all dementias are indeed “vascular dementias”. If that were true, then scientists need only look for ways to open up the blood supply to the brain to solve the dementia problem for the vast majority of patients who suffer from this devastating health issue (think: vitamin K2 and iodine). But by creating different diagnoses and by changing the names of the diagnoses regularly, it’s possible to hide this fundamental root cause of dementia under piles of research into areas of study that are completely useless (and purposefully funded by Big Pharma as a smoke screen).

Pregnant women, in general, are some of the most powerless people in society. They tend to be in the younger age brackets so they are less experienced with the medical system. And they are physically less powerful than normal and less likely to do research or fight against the powerful doctor as the authority figure simply because they are pregnant. Their baby has value to Big Pharma if it is born with health issues, so it isn’t hard to see why an industrial complex like this would have an interest in covering up a cure for placental calcifications and intrauterine growth restriction / fetal growth restriction.

I’m summarizing and abbreviating my thoughts on this topic considerably. But if you want to fully understand vitamin K2 and iodine in a political context and how these two essential pregnancy nutrients have somehow been hidden from medical doctors and scientists, you can read a more in depth discussion about them here.

Nonetheless, most pregnant women with placental calcifications will see that about 50% of the calcifications in the placenta will go away after 6 weeks of treatment with vitamin K2 and iodine (along with the supportive nutrients that we outline below). The remaining 50% will slowly be removed over the course of 12 weeks or sometimes a bit longer to open up the blood supply in the placenta completely.

Is placental calcification normal?

Big Pharma would love it if you believed that placental calcification was normal. But no, it’s not normal. It may be relatively common, but calcification of the placenta is happening more often in our world today because of organophosphate insecticides, GMO plant-foods (that were created to work in tandem with the organophosphates), lack of iodine in the food supply, and bromide and fluoride in the environment.

Note that many doctors may choose to ignore placental calcifications for lack of knowledge about what is causing the problem. They’re taught in medical school to ignore the seriousness of the issue.

Causes of Early Placental Calcification / Causes of Late Placental Calcification

Your doctor may tell you that he/she doesn’t know what causes early placental calcification and he/she probably isn’t lying. But the most likely reason for placental calcification is vitamin K2 deficiency. Your doctor doesn’t know this because your doctor has probably never taken even one single class on the topic of nutrition and nutrients in his or her long course of study. Amazing, right? Despite their lack of knowledge on the topic of nutrition, many doctors will still unhesitatingly steer their patients away from nutritional supplements as though they were experts on the topic.

A woman might develop placental calcifications early if she is already somewhat deficient in vitamin K2 at the beginning of her pregnancy. The more stores of vitamin K2 that she has in her body, the longer she’ll be able to gestate a pregnancy before developing placental calcifications.

Fetal Growth Restriction Cure / Intrauterine Growth Restriction Cure

The fact that fetal growth restriction is now known as “intrauterine growth restriction” tells me that the name of this health problem has been altered to cover up information about how to cure the issue. The term “fetal growth restriction” was an appropriate name for this problem. Why change it to “intrauterine growth restriction” which is much more confusing to patients in terms of what the health issue involves?

Another term, “placental insufficiency” seems to be closely related to fetal growth restriction / intrauterine growth restriction and placental calcifications as we’ve already discussed. All of these terms are essentially describing the same problem: a lack of blood flow through the placenta. So why not just say that? Why not come up with one term to make it easier for obstetricians and scientists to find a cure?

As a researcher or as a patient, if I have to research two or three different diagnostic labels in the scientific literature to find information about a treatment or cure for the problem, this makes my job a lot more difficult. Chances are, I’ll give up before I find the actual answer buried in the scientific literature. So, I just have to point this out to readers so that they can understand how the terms “fetal growth restriction” and “intrauterine growth restriction” are words for a disease process that have been created to make it harder for women to find answers in the scientific literature to help themselves. Having multiple names for one single health problem intentionally muddles communication between scientists and the general public so as to maintain the flow of profits from specific disease-industries.

I encourage readers, at this point, to click here to read a scientific article that links together several serious pregnancy-related disease states: placental calcification, fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia, stillbirth, and miscarriage. If the placental blood flow is impaired by a buildup of calcium in the blood vessels, then we can also assume that the mother’s blood vessels have a buildup of calcium and the fetus’ blood vessels also have a buildup of calcium. Calcium coating the inside of the mother’s blood vessels (also known as atherosclerosis) is definitely a cause of hypertension. Atherosclerosis in a fetus can lead to any number of health problems including kidney issues, jaundice or liver issues, heart problems, poor neurological development and more. Nonetheless, the article we link to above provides a glimpse into the research demonstrating a connection between these various pregnancy-related health issues. If you’ve been diagnosed with just one or two of them, you can look at the scientific research into any of these diagnostic labels to find answers to your questions.

But the article that I link to above, specifically acknowledges that placental calcification means poor fetal growth (aka intrauterine growth restriction / fetal growth restriction), higher risk of miscarriage and stillbirth, and significantly higher risk of preeclampsia.

A baby that is born healthy should be monitored for problems because, if the mother did not start taking vitamin K2 prior to childbirth, the baby will still have atherosclerosis and require the administration of vitamin K2 through his or her diet to overcome the problem.

Placental Calcification, Intrauterine Growth Restrictions, and Preeclampsia

Click here to read a scientific article that acknowledges the relationship between fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia. Of course, we’ve already established the idea that fetal growth restriction is often caused by placental calcifications and vitamin K2 deficiency. Often, pregnant women receive a diagnosis of one or the other of these serious health issues. Doctors are unaware of the relationship among placental calcification, fetal growth restriction, and preeclampsia. Or they give their patients a diagnosis of all of these problems without ever noting that they might have a common cause.

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Treatment for Placental Calcification

The placenta is an essential organ that mediates between mother and child during pregnancy. It selectively mingles the maternal and fetal circulatory systems in an elegant way when the placenta is healthy.

A placental disorder can lead to poor outcomes for both mother and baby. Placental calcification involves calcium-phosphate mineral deposits in the placental tissue. All of the following pregnancy-related health issues are repeatedly associated in the scientific literature with placental calcification: preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction / intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth, miscarriage, and stillbirth. A woman who has been diagnosed with any of these health problems should consider the following supplementation protocol to remove placental calcifications, restore blood flow in placental insufficiency, promote fetal growth naturally, and lower blood pressure in preeclampsia:

If you do not have a thyroid disease (hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism) begin your Lugol’s iodine 2% supplementation by administering 1 drop daily to the skin on your wrist or even near your uterus.
If you have hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, begin your Lugol’s iodine 2% supplementation only after 2 weeks of taking the supportive nutrients that we list below.
Work your dose up to a point where you are administering Lugol’s iodine 2% at 3-20 drops daily (50 mg) along with Vitamin K2 / MK-7- at 200 mcg per day (note that without vitamin K2, the body will not be able to properly absorb the iodine).

Stop taking vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 for at least 6 weeks when you begin taking vitamin K2. Instead, spend a bit of time in the sun each day without sunscreen.
After 6 weeks, you can take low-dose vitamin D3 (400 IU or LESS) if you live in an area of the world that does not receive a lot of sunlight. Otherwise, you should avoid vitamin D supplementation.
Avoid calcium supplementation and antacids that contain high levels of calcium. Instead of taking antacids for heartburn, use EITHER 1) 1 teaspoon of baking soda in water or 2) a hydrochloric acid plus betaine supplement. If you take the hydrochloric acid and betaine supplement and it worsens your heartburn, take 1 teaspoon of baking soda. One or the other of these treatments will work to get rid of heartburn during pregnancy.

There are several supporting nutrients that are essential for iodine absorption and halogen detoxification. If you don’t take these supportive nutrients that are listed below with the Lugol’s iodine, your body may not be able to absorb or use the iodine:

Vitamin C – 2000 to 5000 mgs/day – take this supplement 4 to 6 hours AFTER iodine
Selenium – 200 to 400 mcg/day – (assists with detoxification and thyroid secretion)
Unrefined salt / Celtic or Himalayan sea salt – ½ tsp/day in ½ c. water followed by 12 oz. of water – the salt binds to bromine and assists in detoxification
Magnesium – 500 - 1000 mg/day
L-Tyrosine - 1000-6000 mg per day
L-Tryptophan - 1500 mg per day
Vitamin B3 - 500 mg per day - This nutrient is also essential for those with hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. It is also very beneficial for those without known thyroid issues.
Vitamin B2 - 400 mg per day - This nutrient dosage is absolutely essential for anyone with hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. It can be extremely beneficial to those without thyroid problems.
Zinc / Copper - 15 mg / 2 mg
Vitamin B12 / Methylcobalamin - 20 mg per day (note that this supplement is extremely important for women who are vegan or vegetarian)
Sea Water Supplement or Shilajit- 1 tsp. per 8 ounces of water

How Placental Calcifications Are Created

Calcification of the placenta is something that gains speed as a pregnancy progresses. If we consider this problem as something that is directly related to a nutrient deficiency, it makes sense that the deficiency would worsen as the pregnancy progresses.

During pregnancy the mother’s hormones change in order to mobilize minerals like calcium and phosphorus to move across the placenta.

During pregnancy, calcium channels and phosphate transporters actively transport minerals across a concentration gradient to support the growth of the fetus. Note that organophosphates can become integrated into the calcium-phosphate matrix should the mother be exposed to organophosphate insecticides during her pregnancy. This is particularly true if she is exposed to organophosphates and she is also deficient in vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 can protect her and her fetus from organophosphate insecticide exposure during pregnancy to some extent.

Bromide-containing insecticides are neurologically toxic to a developing fetus and the only protection against these poisons is Lugol’s iodine. Indeed, Lugol’s iodine and vitamin K2 work together and should be administered together. Both are extremely important during pregnancy.

Organophosphate-containing drugs like bisphosphonates are used to produce bone tissues that look identical to healthy bone tissue on X-ray / MRI. However, when organophosphates mesh with calcium to create a bone-like matrix, the final result is weak bone tissues that are susceptible to fracture. Nonetheless, this teaches us that placental calcification can be caused by a mother’s exposure to organophosphate exposure in the past.

Dimethylsulfoxide or Aspirin as a Treatment for Fetal Growth Restriction / Intrauterine Growth Restriction

Aspirin has been used to treat and prevent preeclampsia in high-risk pregnancies and doctors have noted that the use of aspirin seems to reduce the likelihood of fetal growth restriction. The obvious fact here is that aspirin improves blood flow by thinning the blood. Thin blood flows more easily through narrow blood vessels that have been closed off by calcium deposits. Aspirin, after all, is often recommended to individuals who are suffering from atherosclerosis or people at risk for strokes or heart attack.

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If you have recently found out that you have placental calcifications or fetal growth restriction, begin the Lugol’s iodine + vitamin K2 protocol along with the supporting nutrients. While you’re waiting out the first 6 weeks of treatment though and the opening of the placental blood vessels, take either aspirin or white willow bark to thin the blood. White willow bark is a natural alternative to aspirin that can thin the blood. If you are not taking any prescription medications, you can also take 20 drops of 99.9% Pharmaceutical Grade Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) in 8 ounces of water every 4-6 hours throughout the day and night to safely thin the blood and restore kidney health for both you and your baby. Indeed, if you are not taking any prescription medications, DMSO is a healthy, and beneficial choice for thinning blood during pregnancy. Aspirin and white willow are a less healthy choice for thinning blood during pregnancy. While DMSO actually promotes healthy nervous system development in the fetus white willow and aspirin can contribute to some extent to fetal growth restriction. So put on your critical thinking cap to decide how to keep your blood thin during those first 6 weeks of treatment with vitamin K2, iodine, and the supportive nutrients listed above. Choose the option that seems best for you and your baby. Note that DMSO combines with prescription medications, herbs, and essential oils to increase their strength and during pregnancy, DMSO can allow certain drugs, herbs, or essential oils that wouldn’t cross the placental barrier to cross the placental barrier. So, if you’re taking medicinal agents other than nutritional supplements, don’t combine them with DMSO. But also note that DMSO is one of few medicinals that are beneficial during pregnancy, but that can be used to cure infection and disease.

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Molecular Hydrogen and Supplemental Oxygen for Fetal Growth Restriction / Intrauterine Growth Restriction

These days, anyone can buy a supplemental oxygen machine online and, if I were currently pregnant and facing the fetal growth restriction diagnosis, I would definitely obtain a supplemental oxygen machine to enhance oxygen availability to my growing baby as I waited for the vitamin K2 to start working.

Administer 2-3 lbs of supplemental oxygen for 30 minutes twice daily for 6-8 weeks during the initial stages of the iodine + vitamin K2 protocol to improve oxygen availability for fetal growth restriction / intrauterine growth restriction. If you need to treat severe placental calcification, administer up to 5 lbs of supplemental oxygen along with doing molecular hydrogen therapy for up to 1 hour twice daily.

Molecular hydrogen and supplemental oxygen complement each other in the body. While oxygen therapy can increase free radical production, molecular hydrogen is a powerful antioxidant medicine that has the ability to repair DNA in the body (as the DNA double-helix is held together by hydrogen bonds that can be replaced by the extra hydrogen molecules offered up in molecular hydrogen water). If you drink two full doses of molecular hydrogen water daily plus two daily 30-60 minute treatments with supplemental oxygen, this can help your baby receive more oxygen and reduce free radical production in the placenta. Just be aware that supplemental oxygen should always be administered with a “less is more” philosophy as too much oxygen can create a dependency in the body. So start with fewer “pounds” of supplemental oxygen at first and increase the amount only if you feel like that’s necessary. After the initial 6 weeks of vitamin K2 treatment, reduce your oxygen over another 6 weeks of time until you are not using supplemental oxygen at all.

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Summary Protocol

To summarize, if you have been diagnosed with fetal growth restriction, intrauterine growth restriction, preeclampsia, placental insufficiency, or placental calcifications, you need to do the following things:

Begin taking vitamin K2 in the Menaquinone-7 / MK-7 form at 200 mcg daily.
Stop taking vitamin D supplements for 6 weeks. Then, begin taking vitamin D supplements again only if you receive less than 30 minutes of sunlight exposure daily.
Resume vitamin D supplements only if you are in the middle of the winter season in a dark area of the world where you cannot get sunlight exposure to your skin. Take only low dose vitamin D at 400 IU or less.
Begin taking the supportive nutrients for Lugol’s iodine 2%. If you do not have a thyroid disorder, begin taking Lugol’s iodine along with the supportive nutrients. If you do have either hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, take the supportive nutrients for 2 weeks prior to beginning treatment with Lugol’s iodine.
When you begin taking Lugol’s iodine 2%, start with 1 drop per day and increase the dose by 1 drop every 1-3 days until you reach a dose of 20 drops total.
Over the initial 6 weeks of treatment with Lugol’s and vitamin K2, take 300 mg of aspirin daily. Or, take 400 mg of white willow bark daily if you are on prescription medication.
As an ALTERNATIVE to aspirin or white willow, you could administer 20 drops of 99.9% Pharmaceutical Grade DMSO in 8 ounces of water every 4-6 hours of the day as long as you are not taking any prescription medications.
Finally, if you can afford to buy a supplemental oxygen machine, administer supplemental oxygen at 2-3 pounds for no longer than 30-60 minutes twice per day to improve oxygen levels to your baby. If you must, increase to 5 pounds, but don’t exceed this amount for longer than 60 minutes twice per day. Follow a “less is more” philosophy when using oxygen.
Administer two doses of molecular hydrogen water twice daily. Note that a Kangen machine can produce a higher-quality molecular hydrogen water treatment with more molecular hydrogen than cheaper molecular hydrogen generators. Choose a molecular hydrogen generator that best meets your needs and your budget. Note that Kangen machine molecular hydrogen water can be used to cure various serious diseases and infections (like asthma or cancer), so it is something that you can use, even on an infant, to work with health even after pregnancy.

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Resources:

• Westby, A., and Miller, L. (2021). Fetal Growth Restriction Before and After Birth. Retrieved March 4, 2023 from https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2021/1100/p486.html

• Neven, K .Y. et al. (2021). Lower iodine storage in the placenta is associated with gestational diabetes mellitus. Retrieved March 4, 2023 from https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-021-01919-4

• Moran, M. C. et al. (2015). Placental volume, vasculature and calcification in pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia and intra-uterine growth restriction. Retrieved March 4, 2023 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26461962/

• Zhu, M. Y. et al. (2016): The hemodynamics of late-onset intrauterine growth restriction by MRI. Retrieved March 4, 2023 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26475425/

• Chen, K. H. and Chen, L. R. (2012). PP096. The effect of preterm placental calcification on uteroplacental blood flow, fetal growth, and perinatal outcome in hypertension complicating pregnancy. Retrieved March 4, 2023 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26105418/

• Mirza, F. G. et al. (2018). To ignore or not to ignore placental calcifications on prenatal ultrasound_ a systematic review and meta-analysis. Retrieved March 4, 2023 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28264638/

• Correia-Branco, A. et al. (2020). Placental Calcification: Long-standing questions and New Biomedical Research Directions. Retrieved March 4, 2023 from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-46725-8_13

• Tantry, T. (2023). Calcified Placenta in Pregnancy: Everything You Should Know. Retrieved March 4, 2023 from https://flo.health/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/complications/calcified-placenta-in-pregnancy

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Intrauterine Growth Restriction / Fetal Growth Restriction, Preeclampsia, Placental Insufficiency, and Placental Calcification: What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You

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