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Research about what to eat and what not to eat, regarding pregnancy foods and the different aspects of pregnancy nutrition, have always been ongoing. While certain foods help your baby to grow well during pregnancy, there are many foods that can be potentially harmful for your baby.
Here are some of the foods that need to be avoided during pregnancy:
-Fish: Most people would be surprised by the inclusion of fish in the list of prohibited pregnancy foods. We all know fish is one of the healthiest foods. However, these days due to the increasing levels of pollution in water, many fish have high levels of mercury contamination. The slow accumulation of mercury in the baby's body can cause a variety of problems like brain damage and neural problems. Fish that should be avoided are shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel since they may contain high levels of mercury.
-Raw meat: During pregnancy, many women crave things like sushi and seafood. However, all these items involve eating raw or semi raw meat that may be contaminated by bacteria like toxoplasmosis, coli form bacteria and salmonella. Rare beef and poultry can cause an infestation of these bacteria in the body and be detrimental to your baby's health.
-Soft Cheese: Soft cheeses like blue cheese, Camembert, fresco and others may be infected with bacteria that can cause problems for your baby. Therefore, it is best to avoid soft cheese during pregnancy.
-Raw eggs: The dreaded bacteria Salmonella generally resides in raw eggs. Raw eggs are used in a variety of dressing and preparations like Caesar dressing, Hollandaise, and mayonnaise and can lead to food poisoning and other problems.
Liver: Most grannies will tell you that liver is a good thing and needs to be a part of your pregnancy foods. No doubt, animal liver is a rich source of nutrients. However, most of us do not realize liver is quite rich in vitamin A so you need to really take care of the amount you eat. An excess of vitamin A can cause birth problems in your baby. You can have liver but in moderation.
-Artificial sweeteners: Saccharine and aspartame are two of the most commonly used sugar sweeteners these days. Both these sweeteners are known to cause birth defects and many other problems in the unborn baby.
-Alcohol: Although a lot of people say that the odd glass of wine or beer is ok, at present there is no research or study has been able to tell us how much alcohol is permissible during pregnancy. No one really knows the extent of the effect that alcohol has on babies, therefore its best to avoid it.
-Junk food: You may crave for junk food but the fact is that many times junk food can cause problems like vomiting and jaundice which are not good for the baby. Therefore, avoid junk food and choose healthier pregnancy foods.
In order to ensure the right development of your child, you need to ensure that you avoid these foods and feed your child the right kind of nutritional pregnancy foods.
