Extracted from http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleid=917
During pregnancy, it's important to eat a well-balanced and nutritious diet, in order to provide your baby with the nutrients it needs to grow. Your diet should also give you energy for the changes taking place in your body.
However, there are certain foods you shouldn't eat whilst pregnant to avoid exposing yourself to the risk of food poisoning, or because they can be potentially dangerous to your unborn baby.
Listeria
Listeriosis is a rare, flu-like illness, which can be contracted from food that contains listeria bacteria. Although rare in the UK, listeriosis can cause stillbirth, miscarriage, or severe illness in newborn babies.
You should avoid foods where high levels of listeria are occasionally found. These foods may include:
soft and blue-veined cheese, such as Camembert, Brie and Stilton. (There is no risk of listeria associated with hard cheese such as cheddar, cottage cheese or processed cheese),
pâté (any type, including vegetable), certain prepared salads such as potato salad and coleslaw, and ready-prepared meals or re-heated food, unless they are piping hot all the way through.
Salmonella
Salmonella is a bacteria that causes a type of food poisoning. Salmonella is found in unpasteurised milk, raw eggs and raw egg products, raw poultry and raw meat. Although salmonella food poisoning is unlikely to harm your baby, it is advisable to take precautions to avoid foods that may contain salmonella. The steps outlined below will reduce your risk of getting salmonella.
Avoid food containing raw or partially cooked eggs, such as homemade mayonnaise, and some mousses and sauces. You should only eat eggs if they are cooked until both the white and the yolk are solid.
Avoid unpasteurised dairy products.
Cook all meat and poultry thoroughly, and take particular care with products made from minced meat, such as sausages and burgers. Make sure these are cooked until they are piping hot all the way through and no pink meat is left.
Take particular care with meat at barbeques, parties and buffets. Bacteria breed quickly on food that is left uncovered in a warm environment.
Make sure that raw meat does not come into contact with other food (for example in the fridge), particularly food that is already cooked or that will be eaten raw.
Always wash your hands after handling raw meat.
Toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by a parasite found in cat faeces. It can also be present in raw or undercooked meat, and in soil left on unwashed fruit and vegetables. Although rare, the infection can occasionally be passed to the unborn baby, which can cause serious problems.
To reduce the risk of toxoplasmosis, you should avoid the following foods:
- unwashed raw fruit and vegetables,
- raw or undercooked meat, and
- unpasteurised goats' milk or goats' cheese.
To avoid contact with soil or faeces that might contain the toxoplasmosis parasite, it's important to wear gloves if you are gardening or changing a cat litter tray. If possible, ask someone else to do it for you.
Vitamin A
If you're pregnant you should make sure you don't have too much vitamin A. Although you need some vitamin A in your diet, having too much could mean that levels build up in your body and harm your unborn baby.
Eating a normal, well-balanced diet should give you all the vitamin A your body needs. Avoid liver or liver products such as pâté, as liver contains high levels of vitamin A. You should also check with your doctor before taking any high-dose multivitamins or cod liver oil supplements, as these may also contain vitamin A.
Fish
Oily fish is good for your health, but you need to limit the amount that you eat because it contains pollutants, such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
If you're pregnant, you should eat no more than two portions of oily fish a week. Oily fish includes fresh tuna (not canned tuna, which doesn't count as oily fish), mackerel, sardines and trout.
There are a few types of fish that you should avoid eating while pregnant, and some others that you should limit the amount you eat.
Limit the amount of tuna you eat because it contains a high level of mercury which can have a damaging effect on your baby's developing nervous system. You shouldn't eat more than one tuna steak, or four medium-sized tins (about 140g per can) of tuna a week. This works out at about six rounds of tuna sandwiches or three tuna salads.
Avoid eating shark, swordfish and marlin as these fish also contain a high level of mercury. You should also avoid eating raw shellfish when you're pregnant. This will reduce your chances of getting food poisoning which can be particularly unpleasant when you're pregnant.
Alcohol
The Department of Health advises that pregnant women, and women who are trying to conceive, should avoid drinking alcohol and should not get drunk. Heavy drinking, during pregnancy, is associated with low birth weight, and other, more serious birth defects.
However, if you do decide to drink alcohol while you are pregnant, you should limit the amount that you drink. The Department of Health and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists advise that pregnant women should not drink more than 1-2 units of alcohol once or twice a week. Binge drinking (drinking several units of alcohol in one session) should be avoided.
Caffeine
You should limit the amount of caffeine you have each day. Caffeine affects the way your body absorbs iron, which is very important for your baby's development. High levels of caffeine can result in a baby having a low birth weight, or even miscarriage.
Caffeine occurs naturally in a range of foods, such as coffee, tea and chocolate, and it's also added to some soft drinks and 'energy' drinks. It's important not to have more than 300mg of caffeine a day. 300mg is roughly equivalent to either:
- three mugs of instant coffee,
- three cups of brewed coffee,
- six cups of tea,
- eight cans of regular cola
