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Asked by popthebottle to Meeks, Pete, Stephen, Steve, Tom on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
Question: IS it true that when you are pregnant and you eat nuts there is a chance that your baby may get harmed and you can get nut alergy?
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Marieke Navin answered on 17 Jun 2010:
I actually don’t believe this and didn’t avoid nuts when I was pregnant. I reasoned because look at all the countries where they eat a lot of nuts e.g. Isreal, they do not have any such bans on nuts and their kids don’t have nut allergies.
I think peanuts are the problem, you can eat all the other nuts, almonds, cashews, etc but somehow we seem to overdo it on the peanuts. Too much of anything can make you sensitive to it. Balance is important.
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Tom Hartley answered on 17 Jun 2010:
My wife and I talked about this a lot as I am allergic to nuts, but I couldn’t find a clear answer. I think in the end she avoided nuts during pregnancy and the children didn’t eat them till 3 or so. But I am not sure if it is better to be exposed to, or to avoid, the nuts – I heard opinions on both sides, and didn’t do the research needed to get a proper scientific answer (I don’t think the evidence is clear yet). I hope someone else knows, although at this stage I am the only one in the house who doesn’t eat nuts.
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Stephen Curry answered on 17 Jun 2010:
I had to look this one up and found a link at the site of the governments Food Standards Agency. Since this is a health issue, I thought it important to check the information.
Their advice is that there is no risk of the baby developing an allergy if the mum eats peanuts during pregnancy.
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Comments
Tom commented on :
Meeks – I am allergic to all the other nuts, and not to peanuts. But I don’t know how this came about, whether through genetics, overexposure or underexposure to nuts, or some other environmental factor. I’d love to know – it’s pretty much the only food I don’t eat!