Strawberry in pregnancy: benefit or harm?

This fragrant beautiful berry, perhaps, is one of the most delicious on our planet and the most beloved ones. Obviously, that's why in the old days strawberries during pregnancy - especially in autumn or in the midst of winter - were the most frequent "food whim" of women in an interesting situation ...

But strawberries are one of the most useful berries. It is claimed that its use increases the defenses of the body, helps strengthen the walls of blood vessels and lower blood pressure. Strawberry helps maintain a healthy blood sugar level (due to the presence of polyphenols), fight swelling (due to its diuretic properties), and cope with inflammation (due to the presence of salicylic acid). What else can strawberry be useful in pregnancy, and what can it do to harm? Let's understand.

Is it possible to make strawberries during pregnancy?

If such a question arises, then there is reason to doubt the absolute benefits of strawberries during pregnancy. And the question is correct! Well, strawberries can not - with all our desire - not have a "fly in the ointment" in their "barrel of honey" ...

Firstly, as you know, strawberries have a rather dubious reputation for food allergies. During child bearing, any allergic reactions should be minimized. And if a woman has a tendency to allergies (and, whatever), then from strawberries during pregnancy should be refused flatly, so that later the child did not have diathesis. By the way, doctors recommend taking into account the existence of an addiction to allergy not only in the parents of the unborn child, but also in all grandparents.

Is it possible to make strawberries during pregnancy, if potassium (the content of which in this berry is 150 mg%) not only activates some enzymes and ensures the conduct of nerve impulses, but also increases the intensity of synthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. And this, in turn, enhances the peristalsis of the stomach and intestines and the contraction of the musculature of the bronchi and uterus. What does it mean to increase the tone of the uterus during pregnancy is known to every woman ... So for those who had miscarriages or at least their threat, one can not approach a cannon shot with strawberries!

Strawberries were among a small number of products that contain, in addition to citric and malic acid, also oxalic. In the body, salts and esters of oxalic acid - oxalates are formed. In case of their overabundance in the body fluids precipitated crystals of calcium oxalate, which become stones and clog the ducts of the kidneys or urinary system. And this is not a "scarecrow", but a real clinical and morphological result of excessive consumption of strawberries during pregnancy.

Therefore, doctors strongly recommend pregnant women not to get involved in the use of strawberries. It is enough to eat 10-12 berries a couple of times a week. And it is necessary to observe the rule: do not eat strawberries on an empty stomach and connect it with something fermented (sour cream, yogurt, kefir, cream, cottage cheese).

Recipes from strawberries in pregnancy

The most popular recipes from strawberries during pregnancy are desserts. We offer to cook them according to all the canons of culinary art.

Dessert "Strawberry-cottage cheese enjoyment"

To prepare this delicious dessert you will need: 200 g of fresh strawberries, 350 grams of cottage cheese, 100 g of sour cream, about two tablespoons of sugar, a piece of chocolate.

Cottage cheese it is necessary to beat up a blender (or to wipe through a sieve) and to mix with sour cream, then 100 g of a strawberry and sugar also to shake.

At the bottom of each kremanki first put cottage cheese with sour cream, then fresh strawberries (cut or whole). On top of the strawberry - the second layer of cottage cheese with sour cream, and on top - strawberry puree. The dessert is sent to the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes. Before serving, the top is sprinkled with grated chocolate.

Dessert "Strawberry Delight"

Necessary products: fresh or frozen strawberries (100 g), fatty cream (200 g), shortbread or biscuit biscuits (100 g), sugar powder (50 g), vanilla sugar (5 g).

Chilled cream whipped with sugar powder and vanilla sugar; Cook the crumbs into not very shallow crumbs. Mix half the whipped cream with the biscuits. Using a blender, grind the strawberries to a mashed state and mix with the rest of the whipped cream.

Capacity (for example, a wide round salad bowl) is covered with a food film and laid out: layer - cookies with cream, layer - cream with strawberries, etc. The dishes should be tightened from the top with a food film and placed in a freezer for 2-3 hours. Thanks to the food film, which is covered with the bottom of the dishes, shifting the dessert to a flat dish will not be difficult.

In conclusion. Thanks to the high content of vitamins, potassium, iron, fiber, antioxidants and polyphenols, strawberries can be considered a berry-healer. And its amazing taste and delicious aroma ... But now you know that strawberries during pregnancy can bring not only good, but also harm.

Benefits of strawberries in pregnancy

To deny the use of strawberries during pregnancy simply does not raise the hand. Judge for yourself:

• in 100 g of strawberries (naturally, fresh) contains half of the daily human needs in vitamin C - all at 45 kcal. And although this berry is 86% water, it has such essential amino acids as valine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, phenylalanine. The first three of these are 35% of the protein constituents of the muscle tissue. Lysine is necessary for the synthesis of enzymes, hormones and protective antibodies. Without tryptophan there will be no serotonin - a well-known "happiness hormone" and one of the main neurotransmitters of the brain.

Also available in strawberry are interchangeable amino acids: alanine, arginine, histidine, serine, tyrosine, aspartic and glutamic acid. For example, glutamic acid is involved in the synthesis of proteins in the body, and serine assists in the assimilation of iron coming from food.

These powerful berries contain powerful antioxidants - ellagic acid, procyanidins and catechins, anthocyanins (kaempferol and quercetin), ellatanins and stilbenes, as well as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. This unique combination of phytonutrients helps to combat the destructive effect of free radicals on the cellular structures of the body. That's why the American Foundation The World's Healthiest Foods gave the strawberry the 4th place among the top 10 fruits for antioxidant capacity (ahead only blackberries, cranberries and raspberries).

However, it's time to return to what is being looked for in strawberries during pregnancy: to vitamins, macro- and microelements and other benefits for the future mother and her baby. And at the same time we will try to answer the question - is it possible to make strawberries during pregnancy. And if you can not, why.

Vitamins

In strawberries, they are presented in a large range and quite ample quantities. We have already started talking about vitamin C, so only a small addition is needed. This vitamin protects tissues from damage and helps the body absorb iron, strengthens the immune system, has antimutagenic action. And this convincingly confirms: the use of strawberries in pregnancy is. After all, it also contains beta-carotene (provitamin A), without which it is impossible to form the eye pigment of rhodopsin in the retina of the future baby's eye. In addition, beta-carotene promotes the growth of healthy bone tissue.

Next come the vitamins of group B, which are rich in strawberries. Vitamin B1 (thiamin) increases the absorption of carbohydrates, is needed for the normal operation of the cardiovascular and nervous systems. It helps to prevent toxicosis during pregnancy and activates peripheral blood circulation, "overloaded" during the bearing of the child.

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is called the most important "growth vitamin": without it, the normal metabolism, the production of enzymes and antibodies, the formation of the skeleton, muscle tissues and cells of the nervous system is disrupted. The lack of vitamin B2 in pregnancy is threatened by a delay in growth and a delay in the development of the fetus.

Vitamin B3 (PP, nicotinic acid) is an active component of oxidative processes and biochemical transformations of fats into cholesterol; stimulates the work of the gastrointestinal tract and liver, improves capillary blood flow and the work of the cardiovascular system. To produce hemoglobin, as well as for the synthesis of amino acids (the "building material" of all tissues of the fetus), pyridoxine - vitamin B6 - is needed. Its deficiency increases nausea in pregnant women.

Another very important vitamin for pregnancy - B9 (folic acid) - is also found in strawberries (0.02 mg%). Folic acid provides the formation of the main embryonic organ - the placenta, as well as the fetal tissues. A sufficient intake of this vitamin during pregnancy is important for protection from neural tube defects in newborns (anencephaly, complete spinal cord nephrosis, etc.).

The use of strawberries in pregnancy is confirmed by the presence in this berry of vitamin E or tocopherol (0.78 mg%). This vitamin-antioxidant provides the correct metabolism of fats (preventing the accumulation of cholesterol), the formation of red blood cells, tissue nutrition and respiration, the functioning of the gonads. Vitamin E plays an important role in the production of hormones that support pregnancy, so its deficit threatens miscarriage or premature birth.

Macro and microelements

And now in the "protection" of the use of strawberries during pregnancy, the chemical elements contained in this berry will perform. Let's start with the macro elements: potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur and phosphorus.

The task of potassium is to regulate intracellular and water-salt metabolism in the body, to keep Ph-balance, to ensure the work of the myocardium and the transmission of nerve impulses to the muscles. Calcium is not only the bones of the future child, but also its muscle tissues (including the heart muscles), and nerve fibers. If the fruit is low in calcium, it will get it from ... The bone tissue of the mother and due to calcium phosphate from the dentin of its teeth.

Magnesium normalizes the work of the central nervous system and many physiological functions, participates in the process of blood clotting, regulation of heart rhythm and blood pressure level. In the composition of all proteins there is sulfur, the stock of which can replenish the strawberry during pregnancy. This microelement promotes the conversion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates into energy, influences the production of bile and insulin. But the lack of phosphorus in pregnancy is fraught with a violation of fetal growth and abnormalities of its bone system.

In the list of trace elements in the strawberry are: iron (6 mg%), copper (0.3 mg%), zinc (0.44 mg%), manganese (0.95 mg%), iodine (0.002 mg%), cobalt (0.003 mg%), nickel (0.002 mg%), selenium, vanadium and chromium. With iron everything is clear: iron is hemoglobin, and its low level (anemia) leads to a shortage of the fetus of the body weight and the premature birth of the child. With iodine, too, there are no questions, because without it, thyroxine is not produced - the thyroid hormone that participates in the formation of the central nervous system. So the deficit of this element (especially in the early stages of pregnancy) can not be tolerated, so that the child does not have any congenital anomalies.

Taking active part in the synthesis of DNA, the production of insulin and some important enzymes for the body, zinc reduces the possibility of the fetus having various mutations and abnormalities. The full development of the fetus and its normal bearing is provided by manganese, and in the future mother it relieves convulsions. Copper, nickel and cobalt participate in the formation of hemoglobin and erythrocytes, molybdenum facilitates the removal of toxins from the body, selenium acts as an antioxidant, and chromium and vanadium regulate the metabolism of carbohydrates and control the sugar content in the blood.