Safe Food: What to eat and drink in pregnancy

There is no proof that cutting your salt intake during pregnancy will reduce swollen ankles. Similarly, there is no proof that leg cramps during pregnancy are caused by a lack of salt or of any other minerals.

Understanding food labels

What are calories?

A calorie (cal or kcal, for short) is a measure of how much energy a particular food gives us. Calories are sometimes called ‘kilocalories’. They mean the same thing. A ‘kilojoule’ (kJ) is another measure of food energy. One calorie is equal to about 4 kilojoules.

What is the ‘RDA’?

RDA stands for ‘recommended daily amount’. The recommended daily amount of a certain nutrient is the amount that most of us need to keep healthy. RDAs vary from person to person. For example, children’s nutritional needs are different from those of older people, and pregnant women’s nutritional needs are different from those of men, or women who are not pregnant. Very active people need more energy than people who don’t exercise much. The RDAs given on food labels usually refer to adult men.

Food labels usually list the RDAs of vitamins and minerals. The percentage figure given after each nutrient tells us how much of our RDA would be met by a portion of that particular food. For example, ‘Folic acid 34mg (17%)’ means that the food would give us 34mg of folic acid – or 17% of the daily requirement. This sounds very good – but remember that the RDA used is that of an adult man, rather than a pregnant woman whose need is much greater.

Next time you pick up an item of packaged food – a loaf of bread or a tin of baked beans, maybe – take a look at the panel of ‘Nutritional Information’ on the label. This information can be very useful when planning a balanced diet – especially when deciding whether or not to include a new food.

In Chapter 1 we used ‘servings’ to describe how much of each food group we need. We did not include weights because we feel that most women prefer not to spend their time weighing food and calculating the nutritional content of each item. Sometimes, however, it is useful to know just what a new food would contribute to your diet.

Imagine, for example, that you are trying to choose between two brands of breakfast cereal. The short list below suggests how much of each food group we need, in grams (usually written simply as ‘g’). With these figures in mind, you can look at the amounts written on the Nutritional Information of the two cereals and see what proportion of that need would be met by an average portion of each one.

Each day during pregnancy the average woman needs:

about 51g protein

about 18g fibre

as little sugar as possible – ideally no more than 50g

as little saturated fat as possible – certainly no more than 23g

no more than 53g of other fats

about 15mg (milligrams) of iron

about 2,000kcal of energy – or 8,100kJ (with an additional 200kcal during the last three months).

But things are not always as they appear! Sometimes interpreting food labels needs a bit of detective work.

Key points

Folic acid is very important, especially during early pregnancy. Take a 0.4mg supplement each day, and eat more foods rich in folic acid (leafy vegetables, tinned baked beans, fortified breakfast cereals).

Women who eat a vegan, or near vegan, diet generally need a vitamin B

supplement. Other women will get enough vitamin B

from a balanced and varied diet.

A balanced diet will provide all the vitamin A you need. Do not take a supplement.

Try to eat some foods rich in vitamin C every day. A good intake of vitamin C is needed to fight infection and disease, and boost the absorption of iron from food. Remember that vitamin C is easily destroyed by cooking.

Women who do not eat milk-based foods, or who do not spend much time out of doors may need a supplement of vitamin D.

It is better to prevent anaemia by eating more iron-rich foods (meat, fortified breakfast cereals, beans, leafy vegetables) than to take an iron supplement.

3 Safety first (#ulink_400f6bcb-330a-5970-944e-dc023537eac0)

Pregnancy is a time to enjoy a rich variety of foods. It is also a time to take care of yourself and your growing baby by keeping in mind a few basic guidelines on food choice and preparation.

In this chapter we talk about the foods that may cause problems for you and your baby during pregnancy, and suggest ways in which you can avoid these problems.

‘Why do I have to be so careful?’

‘It’s all so confusing. There seems to be endless lists of things I can’t eat. When I was pregnant last time, I went to a family party. I put some home-made mayonnaise on my salad without thinking and spent the next six months worrying.’

‘I feel like a child again with people saying “don’t eat this, don’t eat that”. It’s all rather patronising.’

Throughout pregnancy your baby is protected, floating in warm fluid contained within a bag of strong membranes, safe inside your uterus (womb). Her gateway to the world – to your body – is the placenta (afterbirth). Within the placenta, oxygen and nutrients pass from your blood to your baby’s circulation, and carbon dioxide and other waste products are washed away.

The placenta is also a protective barrier. It filters out most bacteria, some drugs and other harmful substances. However, viruses (germs which are smaller than bacteria) and some bacteria can pass through.

Most of the germs with which we come into contact are harmless. There are, however, a few germs that may cause severe illness in babies. Examples include the virus that causes rubella (German measles), the listeria bacteria and the toxoplasmosis parasite.