Mushrooms in pregnancy: to eat or not to eat?

The main question that worries many expectant mothers in the fall is: can you eat mushrooms during pregnancy? And if so, which ones? And if not, why not?

Frankly speaking, mushrooms during pregnancy are not the best food product during such a crucial period of a woman’s life and it is better to avoid them.

And we will try to provide compelling arguments that will help you decide whether to use them during pregnancy.

Mushrooms during pregnancy: fresh, salted, marinated

Many people believe that mushrooms are extremely beneficial for humans, and mushrooms during pregnancy are no exception, especially since this product is low in calories.

Macromycetes, which include porcini mushrooms, butter mushrooms and champignons, have a significant content of protein substances - phosphorus-containing glycoproteins (up to 70%) and amino acids. Fats (cholesterol, lecithin, fatty acids) - no more than 10%. There are organic acids: malic, tartaric, citric, fumaric, oxalic (in the form of oxalate). There are relatively few carbohydrates and they are present in the form of polysaccharides. Mushrooms contain enzymes, macro- and microelements, vitamins B1 and PP, as well as provitamin D (ergosterol).

It is worth highlighting the presence in mushrooms (especially in their stems) of a high-molecular linear polysaccharide, which - like in arthropods and some types of algae - supports the structure of cells. And this is chitin! It is this substance that makes mushrooms food that is hard for the stomach: it simply does not break down under the action of proteolytic enzymes of gastric juice. Therefore, by eating mushrooms during pregnancy, you risk significantly complicating the work of the digestive system.

Mushrooms contain ammonium nitrogen, some of it in a free state, the rest in salts. Ammonium nitrogen is a chemical pollutant of waste water, and ammonium salts, when hydrolyzed, increase the acidity level (pH) of biological fluids in the body. These are ideal conditions for the development of metabolic acidosis, in which blood vessels lose elasticity, blood pressure increases, insomnia, headaches and joint pains are suffered, and fatty tissues grow.

Mushrooms also contain a lot of urea, which they need to neutralize ammonia and return it to the process of amino acid synthesis. In the human body, uric acid salts are a product of protein breakdown that is excreted in the urine. If there is too much urea, the kidneys cannot cope with its removal, and this can lead to urolithiasis - with all the ensuing consequences.

By the way, pickled mushrooms during pregnancy, as well as salted mushrooms during pregnancy, should be excluded from the diet. If you don’t believe me, ask any nutritionist.

Mushroom poisoning during pregnancy

In case of mushroom poisoning, the question “to eat mushrooms or not to eat mushrooms during pregnancy” should be formulated as follows: to be or not to be pregnant, or even to be pregnant.

It is especially unsafe to eat mushrooms that you have picked yourself in the forest or bought at the market. And not only because no one can guarantee that there are no poisonous or inedible mushrooms among them.

Mushroom poisoning during pregnancy can happen even if all the mushrooms are “correct”, i.e. edible. The fact is that by type of nutrition, all higher mushrooms are osmotrophs, i.e. they receive dissolved nutrients by absorption by all parts of their surface. And in our ecology, it is unknown what they managed to feed on…

In addition, there is a considerable risk of poisoning from improperly prepared mushrooms or spoiled canned ones.

What to do if mushroom poisoning occurs? You need to: 1) call emergency medical care; 2) empty the stomach (drink as much room temperature water as possible and induce vomiting); 3) lay the victim down and apply a heating pad to the feet; 4) give cold salted water to drink (a teaspoon of salt per 200 ml of water) - in small sips.

Yeast fungi during pregnancy

Now let's figure out whether it is necessary to eat yeast mushrooms during pregnancy. And first, let's remember that in addition to the mushrooms with a stem and a cap that everyone is accustomed to, there is a huge army of microscopic fungi, represented by molds, yeasts and other pathogenic, non-pathogenic and potentially pathogenic micromycetes.

When some yeast and yeast-like fungi coexist with lactic acid or acetic acid bacteria and gram-negative chemoorganotrophic bacteria of the genus Zoogloea ramigera, mucous-gelatinous "colonies" - zoogloea - are formed. They feed on organic substances absorbed from liquids by oxidation. As a result, fermentation processes begin in the liquid.

These zoogloea mushrooms include the so-called tea, Tibetan (milk, kefir) and rice mushrooms.

Kombucha during pregnancy

Kombucha during pregnancy, as in all other cases, is used to prepare a drink at home that resembles kvass. To do this, a piece of the mushroom is placed in slightly sweetened water colored with tea leaves. The "starter" begins to grow and rather quickly turns into a slimy cake-matrix floating on the surface of the liquid. As a result of the vital activity of this zoogloea, a slightly carbonated drink is obtained.

The tea (Japanese or white sea) mushroom - Medusomyces gicevii - is a symbiosis of yeast-like fungi of the genus Saccharomyces (present on grapes and in grape must) and ascomycetes Brettanomyces bruxellensis, Torulaspora delbrueckii, etc., used in the production of various types of beer. The fungi are accompanied by a gram-negative aerobic bacterium of the genus Acetobacter xylinum, which oxidizes ethanol to acetic acid. In nature, this microorganism lives in the soil and is usually found on fallen rotting fruits. By assimilating glucose and carbon-containing compounds, Acetobacter synthesizes cellulose.

The drink obtained with the help of kombucha contains vitamins (C, B group and PP), sugars, ethanol, organic acids (malic, citric, acetic, etc.), various enzymes and even substances with antimicrobial properties.

We will not list the diseases for which it is recommended to drink kombucha infusion, because it cannot be a panacea. But the contraindications to the use of kombucha during pregnancy are worth covering in more detail.

Contraindications to the use of kombucha during pregnancy

Doctors do not recommend drinking Kombucha if you have diabetes, fungal diseases, high stomach acidity, or a tendency to allergic reactions. This applies to everyone, including pregnant women.

Now think about whether you would drink kombucha during pregnancy if you know that:

• Kombucha infusion, while quenching thirst, also increases appetite.
• The gluconic acid produced by kombucha helps to activate metabolism and increase muscle strength, but can cause intestinal irritation and diarrhea.
• The lactic acids contained in the kombucha infusion destroy pathogenic microbes in the intestines. However, an increase in the lactic acid content in the body can lead to circulatory disorders and a decrease in the oxygen supply to tissues.
• The acetic acid present in kombucha can cause acidosis (see the beginning of the publication), damage red blood cells to the point of their destruction (hemolysis), and impair kidney and liver function.

In addition, the kombucha drink, although light, is carbonated. And carbon dioxide in the consumed liquid, as is known, provokes the production of gastric juice, increases its acidity level and causes flatulence.

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Tibetan mushroom during pregnancy

Tibetan mushroom during pregnancy, also known as milk mushroom during pregnancy, also known as kefir mushroom during pregnancy, is similar to tea mushroom in microbiological parameters and is also a zoogloea.

The basis of this organism are active lactic acid bacteria and yeast fungi (Lactobacillus caucasus, Leuconostoc, Saccharomyces, Torula, Acetobacter, etc.), which produce alcohol and acids - lactic and acetic - during fermentation. The milk mushroom contains proteins, polysaccharides, vitamins A, D, PP, a complex of vitamins B, calcium, iron, zinc, iodine and other useful substances. And also a large number of probiotic microorganisms, which after drinking kefir based on Tibetan mushroom continue to live in your intestines and have a positive effect on its condition.

Currently, there is official evidence that strains of lactobacilli of the Tibetan mushroom help in the treatment of inflammatory diseases and gastrointestinal diseases (gastritis, stomach ulcers), promote wound healing and postoperative recovery of the body.

Tibetan mushroom is contraindicated for use during pregnancy if you have insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; hypolactasia (lactose intolerance); increased stomach acidity.

Rice mushroom during pregnancy

Rice mushroom is also a zoogloea, and the principles of its existence as a symbiosis of microscopic fungi and bacteria are not much different from kombucha. Therefore, it is not worth using rice mushroom during pregnancy for the same reasons (see above - Contraindications to the use of kombucha during pregnancy).

In addition, rice mushroom is contraindicated in pathologies of the stomach and intestines, as well as in arterial hypotension.

The safest way to use rice mushroom during pregnancy is to use its infusion externally, as a hair rinse. It is said to strengthen hair and make it shiny.

Reishi mushroom during pregnancy

We warn you right away: contraindications to the use of this medicinal mushroom are, along with hemorrhagic diathesis and childhood under seven years of age, pregnancy and lactation.

The mushroom of the class of agaricomycetes Ganoderma lucidum or varnished tinder fungus is called by the Chinese ling-zhi (mushroom of immortality), and by the Japanese - reishi (mushroom of spiritual power). Just like the well-known chaga, it grows on the trunks of drying deciduous trees and destroys their wood.

Thanks to essential amino acids, polysaccharides, triterpenes, flavonoids, phytoncides and other biologically active substances, this mushroom, as they write in the instructions, “has an immunomodulatory, antitumor, antiviral, antibiotic, hypolipidemic, hepatoprotective, genoprotective, anti-inflammatory, antiallergenic and antioxidant effect”...

Apparently, the reishi mushroom is prohibited during pregnancy for many reasons. For example, because it is, like ginseng and eleutherococcus, an adaptogen of plant origin. Or because it contains natural triterpenoid compounds, which are similar to steroid hormones.

Why do you dream about mushrooms? It means you are pregnant!

We decided to finish the story about fungi during pregnancy by reminding you that medicine owes the appearance of antibiotics to microscopic fungi, since penicillin was obtained from mold.

By the way, mold dreams of trouble. Whether unplanned or unwanted pregnancy is one of them, we cannot say for sure. Live fish, a stork or butterflies usually dream of pregnancy. We did not find a dream about picking mushrooms in dream books as a sign of pregnancy, but we did find several interpretations of picking mushrooms in a dream.

In a dream, picking mushrooms means either attaching too much importance to eroticism, or to an upcoming large amount of small work.

To dream of mushrooms as a sign of pregnancy is interpreted only in one dream book. And if you dreamed that you were cooking mushrooms, then this is a surprise. Well, pregnancy can be a complete surprise for a woman...

And in an old French dream book you can read that “seeing mushrooms in a dream means a long life and good luck.”

By the way, the French joke that with mushroom sauce you can even eat a sole. So, if you can’t resist the urge to taste freshly cooked mushrooms, make the sauce. Just use champignon caps and chop them finely and pour boiling water over them before putting them in the frying pan. And the onions should be sautéed in another frying pan and mixed with the fried mushrooms. Salt and pepper, add sour cream and simmer until done. The sauce is very tasty, but you shouldn’t eat dishes seasoned with it for dinner: after all, mushrooms are not the best food product during pregnancy.