Table of contents:
- What is contained in the offal?
- Then, can pregnant women eat offal?
- High cholesterol offal
- The offal must be properly cooked
Mothers who are pregnant generally have a lot of dietary restrictions to maintain the health of themselves and their wombs. One that is being questioned is, can pregnant women eat offal? Because offal itself is often thought to cause cholesterol to rise. Let's look at the answers and explanations below.
What is contained in the offal?
The nutritional content of offal depends on which part you eat.
For example liver and gizzard which contain sufficient protein and a variety of vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, iron, phosphorus, and magnesium.
Meanwhile, beef brain is high in DHA, a type of omega-3 fatty acid that functions to maintain brain health and reduce the risk of heart disease.
Then, can pregnant women eat offal?
May. Animal offal provides a variety of nutrients that can benefit maternal health and fetal development.
Take for example vitamin A which is very important for the growth of fetal cells and tissues, DHA which is important for the development of the baby's brain and eyes, to protein that provides energy for the mother's body to do activities during pregnancy and prevents the risk of several birth defects.
But even though it is useful, offal should not be eaten every day. Quoted from the Healthy Eating website, doctors are of the opinion that pregnant women should eat offal no more than once per week.
High cholesterol offal
There are several reasons why pregnant women are not advised to eat too much offal. First, because the good nutritional content of offal cannot be processed optimally by the body if consumed in excessive amounts.
Second, because in general, most offal includes foods high in fat, calories and cholesterol. One ounce of chicken liver counts to contain 180 mg of cholesterol, while chicken gizzard contains 370 milligrams of cholesterol. This amount alone is sufficient for more than half of the recommended daily intake of cholesterol for pregnant women.
Moreover, your body's cholesterol levels during pregnancy naturally tend to increase by about 50 percent. Therefore, eating mostly offal when pregnant can make your cholesterol levels soar higher, which is a danger to the health of the body and the fetus. High cholesterol levels have the risk of making pregnant women have heart attacks and strokes.
In addition, some offal is also high in vitamin A. For example, chicken liver and gizzard. Even though it is needed by the body, excess vitamin A can cause poisoning that can harm you and the baby.
Therefore, it is important to limit the portion of eating offal according to your body's needs.
The offal must be properly cooked
Animal organs that are used as offal generally contain a lot of waste and toxins from disposal. Well, these toxins and impurities can actually be eliminated if pregnant women eat properly cooked offal. The good thing, follow how to process the following offal:
- Wash offal 3 times under clean running water
- Boil the offal until cooked
- Then, process the offal according to taste
- For pregnant women, it's best not to fry it. Cook the offal by sautéing or boiling it will be better.
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