Ice cream in pregnancy

Realizing what an important role the pregnant woman's nutrition plays for her health and the normal development of the unborn child, many expectant mothers are interested in what can and can not be eaten during pregnancy. For example, is ice cream available during pregnancy?

First of all, it depends on the quality of the world-famous goodies. Usually, ice cream is made from milk, cream, butter, sugar, and various food additives - for taste, color, appropriate consistency and prolongation of shelf life. Since there is no reliable information on the effect of these or those additives on the body, to date, ice cream during pregnancy is a controversial issue among dieticians.

Is ice cream available during pregnancy?

Nutrition experts do not idealize modern ice cream, which contains a lot of fats and preservatives. And most of the fats (for example, palm oil, which is replaced with creamy) refer to saturated, that is, increase the level of cholesterol in the blood and is believed to contribute to the development of obesity. This fact can be indirectly confirmed by the example of the United States. Americans are in the first place in the world for both obesity and consumption of ice cream: during the year the average American eats 22 kg of this product (the average Ukrainian does not reach four).

Ice cream in pregnancy: the arguments "for"

It should be noted that those who recommend eating ice cream during pregnancy, make a reservation: "ice cream is useful in pregnancy, if it is made from natural milk and without dyes."

In the production of ice cream, milk powder is commonly used, which is obtained from ordinary fresh milk during a multi-stage process, consisting of pasteurization, thickening, homogenization and drying. Moreover, the drying takes place at a temperature of + 150-180 ° C.

Despite this, milk powder contains vitamins A, B1, B2, B9, B12, D, E, C, as well as calcium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, etc. So if you want ice cream during pregnancy, eat: all these useful to you and your baby.

The Internet is full of information that ice cream, including ice cream during pregnancy, thanks to the presence of L-tryptophan in it, "protects against fatigue and stress and saves you from insomnia." And it is asserted that this is peculiar only to ice cream, since "L-tryptophan in milk at a plus temperature breaks down, and in ice cream it can preserve structure for a long time".

L-tryptophan is an indispensable proteinogenic amino acid, that is, it must enter the human body with food proteins. Tryptophan is the precursor (precursor) of serotonin and melatonin, therefore, it really has a beneficial effect on the nervous system and promotes a good sleep. But L-tryptophan decomposes at much higher temperatures.

Most of this indispensable amino acid contains beef, rabbit, sea fish, cheese, cottage cheese, oatmeal, buckwheat, legumes, bananas, dates, peanuts, pumpkin seeds. And in milk of this substance five times less than in chicken eggs. In addition, this amino acid "works" in the presence of a sufficient number of vitamins B3 and B6. And these vitamins are in the same products as tryptophan, plus rye bread, liver and mushrooms.

I want ice cream during pregnancy - learn to choose the "right" product

The right ice cream is a product produced by domestic state standards: DSTU 4733: 2007 - ice cream from milk (it is forbidden to replace milk fat or protein) and DSTU 4735: 2007 - ice cream from combined raw materials (that is, with vegetable fats). But, from various flavoring fillers and food additives, no consumer DSTU protects. Moreover, as experts say, in all grades of ice cream they are all allowed ...

By the way, soft ice cream based on fruits and berries is not difficult to cook at home. For example, according to the following recipe.

It will take 200-250 ml of fresh milk and cream, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2-3 ripe bananas. From bananas with a blender you need to make a mashed potatoes. In a saucepan mix milk, cream and sugar, heat (not to a boil) over low heat, with constant stirring. Then the mixture is cooled to + 26-28 ° C, it combines with the fruit part, mixes well and goes for one and a half to two hours into the freezer. If desired, bananas can be replaced with strawberries, mangoes, pears or pineapples.

So, if pulling on ice cream during pregnancy, you should not resist ... The main thing is not to overdo it with its quantity and pay attention to its quality - to buy only ice cream from milk.

Ice cream in pregnancy: the arguments "against"

Ice cream is a highly digestible high-calorie product, the fat content in it can reach up to 15-20%, and carbohydrates - up to 20% and higher. The most calorific variety is a filling, the standard portion of which contains 300 kcal or more. In addition, in this dessert there is a lot of sugar, so that ice cream during pregnancy in uncontrolled quantities is guaranteed uncontrolled extra pounds.

Let's return to the already mentioned food additives, in particular, to the so-called emulsifiers, which are added to the ice cream for a homogeneous texture. There are no claims to natural emulsifiers (egg yolks or buttermilk), but manufacturers of cold delicacies use cheaper emulsifiers - mono- and diglycerides (hydrolysed fats, E471 additive - is considered safe), and also locust bean gum (E410), guar (E412) and xanthan (E415). The first two are obtained from plants - the ceratonia of the folicle (carob tree) and leguminous legume; their main substance galactomannan is excreted from the intestine in an unchanged form. Xanthan gum is a polysaccharide obtained by fermentation of carbohydrates using a special bacterium; The additive is digested in the stomach as fat. The effect of these nutritional supplements on the body has not been thoroughly studied.

As for synthetic flavors and dyes, they are also available in ice cream. Do they need in the diet of a pregnant woman - a rhetorical question ...