Eating Organic During Pregnancy

/Home/g. Organic Food Online/Organic Baby Food

Thinking of going organic? Here are the top five organic food choices pregnant women should make.
by: Dr. Alan Greene
Pregnancy and Organic Food
By going organic, you avoid exposing yourself to the antibiotics, artificial hormones, pesticides and genetically modified feed found in many non-organic foods.
Meat from grass-fed, organically raised cattle tends to be leaner overall and has about five times the omega-3s of conventionally raised beef.
Recent USDA monitoring data found that 27 percent of conventional milk samples contained synthetic pyrethroid pesticides.
Conventionally grown apples are one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits tested by the USDA.
Many processed foods contain soy, which is often genetically modified and contaminated by organophosphate pesticides. By checking labels and choosing organic processed foods, you'll know any soy you're eating wasn't genetically altered or grown with pesticides.


Related stories
1. Baby's Development in the First Trimester
2. Second Trimester Infant Development
3. Healthy Pregnancy Weight Gain
4. Baby Development By Trimester
5. Safe Foods During Pregnancy
regnancy is a good time to make the switch to organic foods. By going organic, you avoid exposing yourself to the antibiotics, artificial hormones, pesticides and genetically modified feed found in many non-organic meats, produce, grain and dairy products. Here's my take on the top five organic food choices a pregnant woman can make:

1. Potatoes
When making the switch to organic vegetables, be sure to put potatoes at the top of your shopping list. As the number one consumed vegetable in the United States, conventionally farmed white potatoes also have one of the highest levels of pesticide contamination. So, by switching to organic, you can make a big difference in two important ways: by lowering your own exposure to chemical pesticides and by using your consumer clout to create a bigger market for the organic version of this popular veggie. And be sure to eat the peels–that way you will get all the available nutrients, including high levels of potassium and Vitamin C.

2. Beef
If you eat beef during pregnancy, I strongly suggest choosing organic beef. The meat from grass-fed, organically raised cattle tends to be leaner overall and has about five times the omega-3s of its conventional counterpart. (Omega-3 fatty acids are important during pregnancy and research shows they play an important role in fetal brain development. Studies have found that babies born to women who ate diets high in omega-3s during pregnancy had higher attention spans than other infants.)

In contrast, a 2007 study published in the Oxford journal Human Reproduction linked mothers who ate beef from conventionally raised cattle during pregnancy with lower sperm counts years later in their adult sons. The men in the study whose mothers ate conventional beef most frequently had sperm counts that averaged 24 percent lower than their counterparts, and they were three times more likely to be infertile. The authors of the study believe the added hormones in conventionally raised beef were to blame.

3. Milk
If you drink milk, opt for organic. Milk from organic, pasture-fed cows is produced without antibiotics, artificial hormones, or pesticides, and can also provide extra omega-3s and beta-carotene. I find that when women start making organic choices for themselves and for their families, they often intuitively start with organic milk. Recent USDA monitoring data found that 27 percent of conventional milk samples contained synthetic pyrethroid pesticides.

4. Apples
When choosing organic fruit, the best place to start is with apples. Studies show organic apples tend to have higher nutrient levels and taste better than the conventional variety. And sadly, conventionally grown apples are one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits tested by the USDA. They are a major source of exposure to organophosphate pesticide, a chemical linked to decreased intelligence and increased attention problems in children and hormone problems in adults.

5. Soy
Products made from organic whole soy beans can be a wonderfully nutritious food. Unfortunately, only a tiny fraction of the nation's soy crop is currently organic. And, to make matters worse, 87 percent of the conventionally grown soy in the United States is genetically modified. What's more, in recent years soy has been the domestic crop most contaminated with organophosphate pesticides.

Yet it's hard to avoid soy–it's found in virtually any processed food you eat these days. The only solution is to make sure the processed foods you purchase are organic by checking labels at the grocery store. That way you'll know that any soy you're eating wasn't genetically altered and wasn't grown with pesticides.

Meet our expert:
Dr. Alan Greene, author of Raising Baby Green, is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of California San Francisco. In addition to being the founder of www.DrGreene.com, he is the Chief Medical Officer of A.D.A.M. He is the Chair of The Organic Center and on the Advisory Board of Healthy Child Healthy World. Dr. Greene is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University's Packard Children's Hospital.


omega-3s, pesticides, genetically modified, fetal development, pregnancy nutrition, organic food pregnancy, healthy pregnancy diet

Eating Organic During Pregnancy
September 1st, 2008
Dr. Alan Greene
Justthefactsbaby.com

Copyright © 2010 Just the Facts, Baby Inc. All rights reserved.