Pregnancy Food Myths Debunked | ESME
Share with
Messenger
Messenger
Copy this link
this is an external link and will open in a new window
throughout the world, pregnant women are bombarded with opinions about what to eat and what to avoid. All too often, the advice sounds lost in the stew reported bad science and an old wives tale.
For women in Korea, tastes pregnancy of seaweed soup. In South Africa, many women are given Isihlambezo Zulu, herbal ingredients which can include anything from asters and milkweed for dry hyrax urine. In Iran, the popular pomegranate juice, and in Senegal the bone marrow broth.
But there is one thing that is dished out to pregnant women around the world: advice on what to eat and what to avoid when you're expecting a baby.
The range of opinions can be confusing. The fish is very important for infant brain development, but can not also contain dangerous levels of mercury?
Peanuts should be avoided, or perhaps they really help to prevent peanut allergy in children? Soft cheeses and cured meats are a definite no-no, but mamas-to-be seem to thrive on prosciutto Italian and French women certainly do not all give Camembert?
If a pregnant woman confused, the media should take a good part of the fault, says Linda Geddes, a mother of two and author Bumpology, a book that deploy cutting-edge science to slice through the tangle of anecdotes, myths and nonsense surrounding pregnancy.
"Journalists will seize on any study of pregnancy because they know that people are interested," he said.
"Often, the study stage to convince or early picked up, and by the time the scientific consensus has emerged - sometimes years later - the story has become too old and boring reports so you end up with a lot of misinformation out there the result is that when a woman googles question, he was faced with a mass .. scare stories. "
this science is not reported only bad. It will usually be stirred into the stew of superstition and folklore which vary from country to country.
A lot of common sense will be lowered as well, of course. Eating green leafy vegetables is recommended by traditional cultures around the world. But sound advice often gets packed with ideas that are closer to magic than medicine. In rural Nigeria, it was thought that eat snails can make your baby slow.
Women in Japan were told that spicy foods can give the baby a short temper. In the US, birthmarks may be associated with a mother's desire for strawberries or peppers. In Mexico, there is a long-held belief that eating eggs can make the baby smell. In the Philippines, on the other hand, women were told to eat raw eggs before delivery, to help lubricate the birth canal.
Chinese folk culture full of advice about food that pregnant women should avoid. Eating crabs may make a naughty baby, or give 11 fingers. Drinking milk can brighten her skin. Squid can make the uterus "sticky".
Dr Xiao Ping Zhai, who runs a pregnancy clinic in Harley Street and has been called the "fertility fairy godmother" for her work helping women to get pregnant, said Chinese women quickly left the wild fringes of superstition.
"Some of these ideas from a thousand years ago. I do not think anyone believes in them now, even at my mother's generation." But although he underestimated some old beliefs, Zhai is a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine and the remains convinced there is precious baby in the bath water custom east.
For pregnant women with clinical problems particular, he may prescribe an infusion brewed from as many as 12 different plants, including things like Bay Mao Gen, bamboo grass as it is believed to be "cool the blood", or Huang Qin, concoction, said Zhai, can help 'protect pregnancy'.
in many places, such as in China, folk custom is slowly generate knowledge. But even in the best-educated society, ideas continue to circulate freely evidence, as people who spend time on the net forum Mums will confirm.
Phil Baker spoke to The Food Chain in the BBC World Service
This society is less developed, though, that ignorance and old wife telling is still doing real damage. In parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, food taboos can prevent wa sign of eating a balanced diet and deprive them of essential nutrients.
In the state of Andhra Pradesh, many pregnant women are told that foods such as papaya and squash too "hot" for the baby. In Gujarat, white foods include milk, yogurt, and bananas are routinely avoided because they are "too cool". A similar concept of "hot" and "cold" are widespread in Mexico, where many indigenous women are warned not to eat nutritious foods such as tomatoes, eggs and avocado.
On the part of Tanzania, women abstain from eating meat, afraid that the baby may take on the characteristics of the animals consumed. The idea that eating eggs during pregnancy can cause infertility is widespread throughout Africa.
Many African and Asian communities also share the mistaken belief that breastfeeding should be suspended for several days after birth, and that colostrum should not be given to newborns.
This idea survives, says Prof. Carol Lummi-Keefe, editor of the Handbook of Pregnancy and Nutrition, in part because of inaccurate advice given to pregnant women by people they trust. "Whatever information from experts as possible, we are not found to them. So they examine what they hear to what is said their mother or mother-in-law."
One way to address this might be to provide pregnant women with a personal, scientifically sound dietary advice. That among the objectives pursued by Prof Phil Baker, Director of the National Center for Growth and Development at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
"At the moment, the advice that we give to pregnant women is quite common, and it's quite contrary from area to area ... The long term goal should be to get a relatively simple test-costs, in order to provide advice to parts of the world where the largest pregnancy complications. "
Baker said it became clear that "the environment in the womb have long-term implications not only for pregnancy but for the long term health of the baby, and optimizing nutrition for infants is very important".
That, says Linda Geddes, precisely why the bombing of conflicting advice can be felt as alarming. "Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable. Often, they have been pregnant before, and they are desperate to do the best for their children. The idea that they might do something that is detrimental to the unborn child was horrible to them. That's the brand they are susceptible to marketeers and susceptible to scare stories. "
Not all the media reports, of course, is a scare story. In 2004, Dr. Katri Raikkonen at the University of Helsinki in Finland published a study that suggested a correlation between.
Despite the flurry of media attention that followed, Raikkonen was the first to show that there is no causal link ever established. He does not take care, however, that there is "biologically plausible" mechanism that chocolate may affect the baby's brain develops. "There could also be a psychological pathways," he said, "that eating chocolate makes a pregnant woman happy, and that happiness affects a child's development."
That's the power of sound tempting, but the scientific consensus is clear :. never trust a mother-in-law, and sprinkle everything you read on the internet - including chocolate - with a generous pinch of salt
Subscribe to get articles sent to your inbox.
Phil Baker spoke to The Food Chain in the BBC World Service. Listen or contents The Food Chain.
Here is a selection of reader comments
Both mother and mother-in-law told me not to eat the sheep / goat since it would give the baby epileptic seizures.
Lin Lim, Singapore
I was told that I should eat red soil from termite mounds as this will provide me with all the iron needed by the baby.
Roz, London, UK
I suggested in all seriousness to the ground up bone meal because I was an "older mother". I found the whole topic so contradictory that I stayed with my normal diet, although I gave the wine because it tastes bad. I eat shrimp, camembert and pate sometimes a whole and I continue to have one (single pub measure) G & T on Friday night to relax and mark the start of the weekend.
Kathy, Newbury, UK
I was told that because I had to eat my anemia liver and spinach as much as possible and drink Guinness every day. All things pregnant women are now being told to avoid. I had a healthy baby.
Kay Parke, Chessingtin, UK
My wife suggested that raw fruit, crab meat, or one of several other things will cause stillbirth. Here in China, there are also plenty of advice about what to eat after childbirth, including but not limited to: a thin soup made with pigs trotters, or cuts of pork or fish, or 'Silkie' chicken, or soybeans will all "bring the milk down"; pork liver, saliva swallow, donkey hide gelatin, and Job's tears are all good to "fill"; everything else should be cooked with castor oil instead of regular rapeseed, corn or peanut oil. It feels pretty good.
Jim, Beijing, China
New York urged the government to send more test kit as caseloads double city overnight.
15 greeting from around the world
Pin on Nutrition and Diet
Exposed: 4 pregnancy food myths | Friso
The myths about food and pregnancy - BBC News
9 Pregnancy Food Myths
Debunking 5 Common Pregnancy Food Myths
Pregnancy Food and Nutrition: 17 Myths and Facts
A dietitian debunks these 10 pregnancy food myths - Rollercoaster
What to Eat During Pregnancy: Myths and Facts | Living Plate
7 Common Pregnancy-Food Myths Busted | Workout Trends
The Truth Behind Pregnancy Diet Myths
Exposed: 4 pregnancy food myths | Friso
So Long, Seafood? Debunking Myths About Eating Fish During ...
Food Myths & Belief During Pregnancy in India - Pregnancy Myths
Pregnancy Myths РIs There Anything In them? | Nestl̩
Debunking 5 Common Pregnancy Food Myths
Nutrition Needs during Pregnancy - Importance, Myths & Facts
8 Common Pregnancy Myths, Debunked
Debunking 5 Common Pregnancy Food Myths
Debunking 5 Common Pregnancy Food Myths
5 Top Pregnancy Myths Exposed
Pregnancy Myths | The PishPoshBaby Blog
Common Myths Of Pregnancy, Pregnancy Myths In India
Debunking myths: No sushi during pregnancy | The Star Online
Pregnancy Myths - YouTube
Food Myths & Belief During Pregnancy in India - Pregnancy Myths
Exposed: 4 pregnancy food myths | Friso
Parentune - Top 7 Myths about foods in Pregnancy busted
5 Pregnancy Food Myths Demystified | Sangaaa's Blog
To Eat or Not to Eat: The reasons behind pregnancy food myths ...
5 diet myths in pregnancy
Debunking Popular Pregnancy Nutrition Myths | Similac®
Deli Meat, Coffee, Cheese, and other Pregnancy Food Myths – Your ...
Top 5 Pregnancy Food Myths Busted: From Fish to Full Fat Milk ...
Debunking 5 Common Pregnancy Food Myths
Pregnancy Myths: Things You Thought You Knew
Common Food Myths During Pregnancy - Juna
Pregnancy eating myths debunked
Food Myths
6 Pregnancy NUTRITION Myths That Are Total BS: Part 1 - Abbey's ...
Pin on for my future kids...
Myths About Eating During Pregnancy | babyMed.com
Foods to Avoid During Pregnancy | Pregnancy Food Myths
Busting the food myths during pregnancy
Pregnancy Diet Myths vs. Realities | Natural Birth and Baby Care.com
Pregnancy Myths: Nutrition Facts You Should Know About - KIMS Cuddles
4 pregnancy nutrition myths busted | Living and Loving
5 Nutrition and Food Safety Pregnancy Myths — IFIC Foundation
Pregnancy nutrition myths: What CAN I actually eat and drink ...
A dietitian debunks these 10 pregnancy food myths - Rollercoaster
What My Mother Tells Me: Don't Eat Pineapple And Other Pregnancy Myths
Food Myths During Pregnancy | Health & Fertility Centre for Women
Pregnancy Nutrition Myths Around The World | Similac®
Food Myths & Belief During Pregnancy in India - Pregnancy Myths
Busting pregnancy myths: 6 mistakes most pregnant women make and ...
Even More Pregnancy NUTRITION Myths That We're Sick of Debunking ...
Eating Spicy Food during Pregnancy: Myths, Risks & Tips
Dispelling Pregnancy Myths: Eating for 1.5 - The New York Times
Debunking 5 Common Pregnancy Food Myths
Posting Komentar
Posting Komentar