Is it safe to eat honey during pregnancy? Yes, it’s safe to eat honey during pregnancy. You might have heard that honey isn’t really safe for children which’s true. Honey can contain bacteria which can germinate in a baby’s gut and cause baby botulism, an unusual but potentially fatal health problem.
Honey and Pregnancy
Babies’ intestines are not fully grown sufficient to damage the bacteria, so you’ll need to keep honey far from them till they turn 1 (one year old).
However, healthy adults are not at risk for botulism from honey, even during pregnancy.
Many honey offered in stores is pasteurized using a method just like the one used for pasteurizing milk, though it isn’t really provided for safety factors. The honey is warmed to 161 degrees F for 15 to 30 seconds and after that rapidly cooled. This eliminates yeast cells (though not the botulism spores) so the honey will not ferment and slows the crystallization procedure so the honey will stay liquid longer.
You might find unpasteurized or raw honey at a bee farm, roadside stand, or farmers market. There are no research studies on the safety of raw honey during pregnancy, but there’s no reason to believe it’s unsafe. Unpasteurized honey doesn’t carry the risk of listeriosis you have with unpasteurized cheese and deli meats.
Honey’s Benefits
If you are pregnant, you most likely feel really protective of your unborn baby. You may fret that drinking diet soda, consuming mercury in fish or perhaps dyeing your hair could adversely affect your pregnancy. Considering that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerts that babies under 1-year-old should not eat honey, you might also question if eating honey could hurt your establishing baby. Thankfully, if you like honey, there ready needs to continue consuming it during pregnancy.
Honey– a food substance composed generally of fructose, glucose and other sugars– offers a variety of health and nutritional benefits. It improves body immune system working, helps minor burns and wounds recover quicker, alleviates sore throats and reduces heartburn by neutralizing stomach acid. These antibacterial and antioxidant properties may result from the trace amounts of a minimum of 181 various substances– including vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes– that honey includes.
Honey’s Risk
Despite its health advantages, honey can posture a risk to babies under 1-year-old. Around 10 percent of honey samples include botulism spores, reports Dr. Alan Greene. In a baby’s immature digestive system, these spores– which are really challenging to kill– can become bacteria that produce botulinus toxin, the toxin that causes infant botulism. The highest risk period for infants is in between 2 and 4 months, though more youthful and older children can also be affected. While some cases of infant botulism are mild, the health problem can sometimes be deadly.
Pregnant women can safely eat honey. An adult’s intestines are more acidic than a baby’s and contain advantageous bacteria that avoid the spores from developing into botulism-causing bacteria. Adults– including pregnant women– are often exposed to botulism spores without becoming ill. Since any botulism spores present in honey will be killed in a pregnant woman’s intestinal tracts, they cannot reach her bloodstream or be handed down to her baby.
Pasteurized Honey
Some physicians suggest that pregnant woman avoid unpasteurized honey to reduce their risk of being exposed to botulism spores. Nevertheless, pasteurization will not always kill all botulism spores in honey, considering that the spores can make it through even if boiled for numerous hours.
Pasteurizing honey might likewise harm the vulnerable enzymes and other advantageous substances the honey consists of, reducing its health and nutritional advantages. Given that both pasteurized and unpasteurized honey may include botulism spores, not all specialists concur that it is necessary to prevent unpasteurized honey during pregnancy.
