Foods to avoid when pregnant

By Dr. Yvette Kong
Shanghai East International Medical Center

Hormonal changes in your body during pregnancy don’t just affect your emotional balance. The changes also lower your immune system – making it harder to fight infections and other illnesses. Without the right dietary care and food hygiene, you and your baby could be at risk.  By following basic safety tips, though, problems can be easily prevented.

• Ensure that cold food is kept below 5 Celsius and hot food kept above 60 Celsius before serving. This will help stop the growth of bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Make sure raw and cooked foods are kept separate. Never use the same utensils, such as knives, plates and chopping boards, for both.

• Never defrost frozen food by leaving it at room temperature all day. Defrost overnight in the fridge, or use a microwave.

• Use cooked food within 12 hours.

• Wash hands thoroughly with warm, soapy water, and then dry them, before and after handling food.

Bacteria types:

Listeria
Listeria can cause listeriosis – a very serious infection. Symptoms can take up to six weeks to occur. If the bacteria is transmitted to your newborn baby, it can cause miscarriage, infection, or stillbirth. Hygienic storage and handling of food is critical

Foods that are known to occasionally carry the Listeria infection include the following and should definitely be avoided during pregnancy:

• Ready-to-eat seafood such as smoked fish and smoked mussels, oysters or raw seafood such as sashimi or sushi.

• Pre-prepared or stored salads, including coleslaw

• Pre-cooked meat products which are eaten without further cooking or heating, such as pâté, sliced deli meat, and cooked diced chicken (as used in sandwich shops).

• Any unpasteurised milk or foods made from unpasteurised milk.

• Soft serve ice-creams.

• Soft cheeses, such as brie, camembert, ricotta (these are safe if cooked and served hot)

Listeria is destroyed by conventional cooking, so freshly cooked foods are safe to eat. However, listeria is one of the few bacteria that will grow in refrigerated foods. This is why chilled ready-to-eat foods and refrigerated foods should be avoided.

Salmonella
This can cause headache, fever, abdominal cramps, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. In some cases, it may also cause miscarriage. It is recommended that you avoid foods containing raw egg such as homemade mayonnaise, mousses and ice cream that might be contaminated. If you like eggs, provided they are thoroughly cooked, they are all right to eat, and this means cooking them until the whites and yolks are solid.
Toxoplamosis
A parasitic infection carried by cats (link to pets and pregnancy) and also found in raw or undercooked meats. It can lead to brain damage or blindness in your unborn child.

• Wear gloves when you garden or do anything outdoors that involves handling soil since cats often use gardens and sandboxes as litter boxes.

• Wash your hands well with soap and warm water after outdoor activities, especially before you eat or prepare food.

• Have someone else handle raw meat for you. If this is not possible, wear clean latex gloves and thoroughly wash with soap and hot water any cutting boards, sinks, knives, and other utensils that might have touched the raw meat. Wash your hands well with soap and warm water afterward.

• Cook all meat thoroughly, especially pork or veal.

Mercury in fish
Fish is a great food for pregnancy and breastfeeding mothers but be careful which fish you choose. While some fish contain Omega 3 fatty acid – important for the development of the central nervous system in babies, before and after they are born – other fish may contain mercury levels that can affect the development of your baby’s nervous system, leading to delayed speech and movement. Studies have shown that the fetus is most at risk from mercury levels in fish during the third and fourth months of gestation. Women who are already pregnant, or planning to become pregnant within the next six months, should avoid fish with high levels of mercury, such as shark, swordfish, orange roughy, gem fish, ling, southern blue fin tuna and barramundi.

Exercise caution:

Liver Minimize the amount of liver you eat. Animal liver contains very high levels of vitamin A. While vitamin A is good for you, women who consume too much may risk a higher incidence of birth defects in their babies. Since you’re probably already taking prenatal vitamins and eating other vitamin A-containing foods, it’s better to be safe and not consume liver on a regular basis.

Peanuts Avoid peanuts during pregnancy and lactation to reduce your child’s chance of allergy to peanuts and stop the possibility of an allergic reaction in the womb. A type of mould called aflatoxin which is dangerous also grows on peanuts.

Food additives  Saccharin has been shown to be unsafe during pregnancy. MSG can cause headaches and stomach upsets.

Alcohol There is not really any safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Even one glass a day can have detrimental effects on the unborn baby, especially in the first trimester, so it is recommended that you avoid all alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy has been linked to low IQ in babies, low birth weight and birth defects. It also prevents the absorption of folic acid and iron, and pulls calcium out of your bones. Your baby is so small compared to you – if you are tipsy, your baby has probably passed out.

Caffeine Caffeine is found in coffee, tea, chocolate and coke. Many studies show that you can still enjoy coffee and other caffeinated drinks such as tea and cola during pregnancy as long as you don’t overdo it. Any more than 2 cups of coffee per day is not recommended.