Pregnancy & Newborn magazine has a great story about what fish to eat, and why, during pregnancy. Check it out at www.pnmag.com/prenatal-health/fish-food-0.
February 26, 2010
February 20, 2010
Mom, Drink Your Milk!
If you’re reading this, you want the best for your baby, so you’ll be interested to know that recent research from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that drinking milk during pregnancy may protect against multiple sclerosis (MS) decades later in daughters.
MS is an autoimmune disease that attacks the nerves. MS causes fatigue, vision loss, tingling, and numbness, among other problems. Most victims of MS are adult women.
Researchers analyzed data from a 16-year period of the Nurses’ Mothers’ Study, which included nearly 36,000 nurse-mother pairs. They found that, overall, higher consumption of milk, which is particularly rich in vitamin D, during pregnancy was related to a lower risk of having a daughter who went on to develop MS.
The potential protective relationship between vitamin D intake and a lower risk of MS is not new, but this is the first time that the protective effects of vitamin D on developing babies has been demonstrated. While the news about milk’s potential protection against MS is positive, it’s inconclusive. The study showed an association between milk drinking and MS prevention, but it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), there is a strong link between a baby’s blood levels of vitamin D and mom’s vitamin D intake. In the Harvard study, mothers with the highest levels of vitamin D in their blood - supposedly because they drank the most milk - had a lower risk of having a daughter who developed MS.
Vitamin D is necessary for the absorption of the bone-building mineral calcium, and for maintaining proper levels of calcium in the blood. Vitamin D is good for mom, too: it’s been linked to a lower risk for breast and ovarian cancer, and a stronger immune system.
Pregnant women need 200 International Units (IU) of vitamin D daily, and possibly, much more: there’s a good chance that the suggested levels will increase when the Institute of Medicine releases revised guidelines for vitamin D later this year.
In the Harvard study, women who got the equivalent of at least 400 IU of vitamin D daily from milk had the lowest risk of having daughters with MS. Most prenatal vitamins and regular multivitamins contain 400 IU. Don’t worry about getting more than 200 IU a day, but do limit your intake of vitamin D to 2,000 IU from foods and supplements, combined.
With the exception of seafood and eggs, few foods naturally contain vitamin D. Three and a half ounces of cooked salmon offers 360 IU; three ounces of canned tuna, 200 IU; and a large, cooked egg, 20 IU. Fortified milk is perhaps the most commonly-consumed highly concentrated food source of vitamin D. Eight ounces of fortified milk supplies 100 IU of vitamin D. (Fortified orange juice has the same amount.)
If you’re not a fan of milk “straight up,” add milk to your diet with these tips:
• Prepare instant oatmeal and other cooked cereals in the microwave with milk instead of water. Do the same for condensed soups.
• Snack on cereal and low-fat milk.
• Make Creamy Sweet Potato Soup, found in Expect the Best, Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During, & After Pregnancy.
• Whip up a delicious dessert by blending 1 medium banana, 1 cup milk, 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup, and one ice cube in a food processor or blender for 1 to 2 minutes or until frothy. Drink immediately.
Lactose intolerant? Try Lactaid milk; it’s 100% lactose-free.
February 9, 2010
Tuna Trouble? Wild Planet to the Rescue
When I was pregnant with my first child, canned tuna was my go-to food. I craved tuna salad sandwiches, and I ate my share during those nine months. Warnings about contaminants such as methylmercury (also known as mercury) in tuna and other fish had been around for decades before I starting having children, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had yet to come out with the strong suggestions we have today about fish to avoid during the childbearing years. Mercury damages the central nervous system, and can have devastating effects on a developing baby’s and child’s brain and nerves. Mercury hangs around the body for years, so it may be present when you become pregnant.
Recently, researchers at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas found that 55% of the samples of canned tuna from the top three brands in the US contain mercury levels higher than the Environmental Protection Agency allows as safe; 5% of those samples had levels higher than the safety level set by the FDA for commercially-sold fish. White (albacore) tuna from all three brands harbored the highest mercury concentrations. Canned light tuna has much less mercury than canned white tuna, but it is also much lower in omega-3 fats, particularly the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) that your child needs for brain development and peak vision. Studies show that pregnant and nursing moms with higher intakes of DHA have children with better vision and better cognitive function.
Oddly enough, canned tuna, a favorite of Americans, is not one of the four fish to completely steer clear of when you’re in the baby-making stage of life. (The fish to avoid are swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish, and shark.) Tuna sold in cans is most often from older species with higher methylymercury levels. However, the FDA does recommend eating six ounces or less of canned white (albacore) tuna a week if you’re capable of becoming pregnant, an amount that should be counted in the 12-ounce-a-week suggested limit of seafood.
Tuna lovers, don’t despair! It is possible for you and your children to safely enjoy canned tuna, without guilt or worry. Wild Planet sells wild albacore tuna with more DHA, and far less mercury than the major brands and store brands. How is that possible? I was wondering that myself when I picked up a can at the store the other day. I visited their excellent web site and found the answers I was looking for. Wild Planet wild albacore tuna is from smaller fish who’ve had less time to accumulate mercury in their bodies. Also, the tuna is cooked in the can and the omega-3s, including DHA, stay in the can; they are not drained off and replaced by vegetable oil or water.
Wild Planet tuna costs about twice as much, but it’s worth every penny because the fish is safer to eat, you get more DHA for you and your child, and the fish are sustainably caught. If you ate one can of Wild Planet wild albacore tuna every week, you’d consume an average of 331 milligrams of DHA daily. Health experts recommend at least 200 milligrams of DHA a day when you’re pregnant and nursing.
There’s no reason to stop eating tuna if you’re expecting, nursing, or otherwise in the baby-making years. Even with all the caveats, it’s likely that the benefits of consuming low-risk seafood, such as Wild Planet wild albacore tuna, outweigh the potential harm to your child, and to yourself.
Have you seen my other blog at USAToday.com? It features tips for feeding your family healthy foods, and offers a weekly recipe that I prepare with my children as part of Cooking With My Kids. This week’s recipe is Pumpkin Pancakes. They’re delicious, and good for you, too! Check out the recipe at http://tinyurl.com/4×2e5x.