After going through much research, below are the overview of foods to avoid while going through pregnancy:
Avoid Unpasteurized Food
Risk: Unpasteurized food that contain Listeria bacteria may cause miscarriage or harm the fetus
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| Unpasteurized Cheese |
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Avoid Uncooked Food
Risk: Uncooked food contains bacteria or parasites (e.g. Toxoplasmosis) that can cause harm to fetus
- Ensure meat are fully cook (e.g. well done steak)
- Ensure egg are fully cook
- Avoid sushi food as to avoid eating raw fish
- Avoid food that contains raw ingredient such as raw egg
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| Fully Cook Meat |
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| Fully Cook Egg |
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| Avoid Sushi food |
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Avoid Food with High Vitamin A
Risk: Too much Vitamin A can cause problem to fetus development
A pregnant women is recommended by Institute of Medicine to get 2,565 IU of Vitamin A daily.
3 ounces of cooked beef liver contains 27,185 IU of Vitamin A.
3 ounces of cooked chicken liver contains 12,325 IU of Vitamin A.
A rough guide: 3 ounces = 85 grams
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| Liver |
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Avoid Chilled Ready-to-Eat Foods
Risk: To avoid harmful bacteria like listeria that can harm the fetus
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| Pate |
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| Pre-packed Sandwich |
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Ensure Fruits and Vegetables are Wash Before Eaten
Risk: To avoid harmful bacteria in the fruits and vegetables that may had contact with soil, damaged leaves, etc
Avoid Certain Type of Fruits and Vegetables
- Avoid eating raw bean sprouts because the growing procedure could contain harmful bacteria to fetus
- Pineapple contains a small amount of bromelain enzyme that may cause diarrhea or induce labor. For safe side purpose, it's best to avoid during 1st and 2nd trimester.
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| Bean Sprout |
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| Pineapple |
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Avoid Seafood with High Mercury or Shellfish
Risk:
- Mercury are harmful to fetus
- Do avoid shellfish as part of precaution as shellfish contains virus, bacteria or toxin which are harmful to the fetus. Example of shellfish are: oysters, mussels, scallops, clams, prawns, shrimps, crabs, crayfish.
Highest Mercury Seafood (Avoid Eating)
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| King Mackerel |
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| Marlin |
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| Orange Roughy |
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| Shark |
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| Swordfish |
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| Tilefish |
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| Bigeye Tuna / Ahi |
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High Mercury Seafood (Eat 3 servings or less per month)
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| Bluefish |
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| Grouper |
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| Spanish Mackerel |
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| Chilean Sea Bass |
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| Albacore Tuna |
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| Yellowfin Tuna |
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Moderate Mercury Seafood (Eat 6 servings or less per month)
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| Striped Bass |
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| Carp |
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| Alaskan Cod |
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| White Croaker Pacific |
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| Pacific Halibut |
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| Atlantic Halibut |
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| Lobster |
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| Monkfish |
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| Silverside Jacksmelt |
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| Mahi Mahi |
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| Freshwater Perch |
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| Sablefish |
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| Skate |
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| Snapper |
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| Chunk Light Tuna |
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| Sea Trout Weakfish |
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| Skipjack Tuna |
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Lowest Mercury (Eat 2 servings per week)
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| Anchovies |
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| Butterfish |
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| Catfish |
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| Atlantic Croaker |
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| Flounder |
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| Atlantic Haddock |
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| Hake |
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| Herring |
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| Clam |
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| Domestic Crab |
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| Crawfish/Crayfish |
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| Oyster |
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| North Atlantic Chub Mackerel |
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| Mullet |
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| Ocean Perch |
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| Salmon |
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| Pollock |
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| Plaice |
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| Shrimp |
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| Pacific Sole |
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| Sardine |
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| Scallop |
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| American Shad |
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| Squid / Calamari |
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| Tilapia |
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| Freshwater Trout |
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| Whitefish |
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| Whiting |
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Resources:
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/fishmercury.htm
http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/HealthEducators/ucm091671.htm
http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/types/fruits/sprouts.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/895.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pregnancy-nutrition/PR00109
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/can-I-eat-shellfish-during-pregnancy.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=216
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Listeriosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Thank you so much for the wonderful information.This is really important for me.I am searching this kind of information from a long time and finally got it.
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