If you are pregnant or immunocompromised, many foods regularly eaten during the holidays should be avoided, such as cold meats, raw or smoked fish or even raw cheeses.
Smoked salmon, lymph eggs, Brie with truffles, Parma ham… so many foods that make your mouth water just thinking about them. Except that they carry many dangers for the health of children, pregnant women and the elderly or immunocompromised. On Christmas Eve, here is the list of ingredients to watch out for or avoid altogether if you are one of those at risk.
The alcohol
For pregnant women, we can never say it enough, alcohol is to be avoided. Even during the holidays. Because if a glass of champagne or a glass of wine can probably not cause terrible harm to the baby, we do not know the dose not to exceed. Water and fruit juices are therefore recommended. If you want to vary the pleasures, you can replace caffeine (exciters are also not recommended during pregnancy) with infusions of anise or mint, ideal for aiding digestion after gargantuan festive meals.
Charcuterie, foie gras, raw fish and seafood
“In general, anything raw should be avoided in order to limit the risk of toxoplasmosis infection in non-immune pregnant women. This therefore concerns uncooked foie gras, charcuterie or smoked fish. Toxoplasmosis is a parasite that is found in the ground, so you also have to prefer cooked vegetables to raw vegetables and make sure that the vegetables are perfectly cleaned”, explains dietician Isabelle Maerten, in an interview with Relax News. This disease, which is generally harmless, can cause serious malformations in the fetus in utero.
What’s more, raw, smoked or marinated fish, oysters, as well as shellfish and fish eggs, can contain listeria, which causes listeriosis. The latter is a rare disease which, contracted during pregnancy, can have serious consequences for the fetus.
Meat
Watch out for undercooked meat. “Undercooked meat exposes trichinosis to a parasitic disease related to trichinae, a worm (class of nematodes). Animals themselves contaminated with worm larvae are carriers of this serious infection. Once ingested, these larvae travel through the bloodstream or the lymphatic pathway, enter the muscle cells and become encysted there. The main symptoms of trichinosis are fever, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting… The incubation time is variable (1 to 3 weeks). Contamination is a source of multiple complications (cardio-respiratory problems, encephalitis, etc.), alert the Food Observatory on its website.
Undercooked meat can also harbor the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, which causes toxoplasmosis. And concerning the game, the flesh can contain traces of lead left by the ammunition. However, in pregnant women, lead exposes the fetus to a risk for future brain development.
Raw milk and raw milk cheeses
Since raw milk is not heated, a problem during milking or an infection of the udders can lead to contamination of the milk by bacteria naturally present in the digestive tract of ruminants. Some of them can be dangerous for humans, like listeria, salmonella or E.coli.
In conclusion, if pregnant women must absolutely avoid cooked food during Christmas, they can still allow themselves cooked foie gras, turkey with chestnuts and cooked cheese, such as mimolette or gouda. As for sugar (they must be careful to limit it in order to avoid gestational diabetes), a piece of buche is completely authorized on a holiday evening.
