One of the top news stories this morning is nuts! For a number of reasons......The new news is that pregnant women can and should eat nuts again. I didn't even know that nuts had been blacklisted.
Nuts are fantastic! They are an invaluable source of iron, calcium, and all the minerals you and your baby need. And they are concentrated, meaning that you do not need to eat volumes, you can consume them in small or medium size snack portions, making them an excellent choice when even a small meal feels difficult to digest.
Apparently nuts were declared fooda non grata when the AMA started studies to explain the spike in peanut and tree nut allergies in children. And the first place to which they pointed their studies was pregnant mothers who consumed nuts during pregnancy. Obviously, these were women who themselves were non-allergic. The new study actually proves just the opposite. That non-allergic women who consumed nuts during pregnancy had children who were
less likely to develop peanut and tree nut allergies.
Here are links to articles:
CNN:
Study: Eating nuts during pregnancy may reduce baby's allergy risk
CBS:
Eating nuts during pregnancy may lower chid's chance of peanut allergy
JAMA:
The Study
So between studies, the first with unreliable and scant information, and this new improved more trustworthy study, the warning against nut consumption and a semi-official ban on nuts was promoted by doctors and perpetuated along the pregnant grapevine. So sad. And nuts!
Firstly, How often does the AMA reverse itself? Often. Secondly, these studies take decades to amass clinical evidence, while negative publicity goes out in a second, and the AMA releases hypotheses and the fact that they are conducting a study as though the study has proved itself.....and they do this as news releases. Thirdly, doctors either read or have heard about these unreliable studies and "authoritarianly" spread the advice. And Fourthly, pregnant women who are one of the most vulnerable targets of studies, either as the cause of something or the ultimate preventers of something are held hostage to their desires to do the best for their baby....to the detriment of actual true nutrition.
If you are concerned about any food item. ....if your doctor has said this or that......If another pregnant woman has said, "Well, I heard............."
My advice: Do your own research and make your own self-educated decisions. There is a plethora of resources available to you. You can inform yourself with information, with personal experience, and with instinct. You can synthesize all three and you can have your own path. You also can be respectful of your fellow pregini and not spread heresay as fact, but encourage her own self education and even team up to collect information together.
Disclaimer: Please do not think that I am anti-doctor, or do not trust doctors. Quite the contrary, I say, "Make sure you have a doctor that you can trust, that you like, and that you feel postive about."
Come to our Meet-Up, Thursday, January 9th. The subject will be: "Iron: Preventing Anemia During Pregnancy". Almonds are high on the list!
email me, Jody at brooklynheightsprenatal@gmail.com to register
