Safe Food: What to eat and drink in pregnancy. Rosie Dodds

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 B₁₂ supplement. Other women will get enough vitamin B₁₂ 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

      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.