
Obstetrician-gynecologist and PhD candidate, p.Mishra explains how folic acid is so valuable for the child’s health when it should be taken and why some types of foods to eat and avoid during pregnancy and what can be dangerously read hear.
What Foods To Eat During Pregnancy

Folic acid is an essential component of the diet that prevents severe malformations that lead to the death of a child.
Folic acid is a B vitamin. It prevents neural tube defects in the fetus. The effect is achieved if you start taking before and continue during pregnancy.
Which Foods To Eat During Pregnancy:
- Orange & Citrus Fruits: one orange holds 40 to 50 mcg folic acid.
- Corn:Â this popular plant contains 76 mcg of folate (cooked corn)per cup.
- Avocados:Â it provides 90 mcg folate per cup with vitamins k with dietary fibre.
- Cauliflower:Â the best vitamin & c foods it provides 55 mcg folate.
- Tropical Fruits:Â 144 mcg folate
- Cantaloupe:Â this is high in vitamins a & c, one small-medium cantaloupe provide25 mcg.
- Nuts & Seeds:Â one-fourth cup peanuts contain 88 mcg, sunflower seeds contain 82 mcg in one-fourth cup, two tablespoons flaxseeds 54 mcg of folate.
- Chickpeas (garbanzo beans):Â 142 mcg per cup.
- Okra:Â one cup of cooked okra provides 37 mcg of folate.
- Romaine Lettuce:Â this salad build block suppliers, provide 64 mcg folate per cup.
- Berries: salad, green vegetables are 58 mcg folic acid.
- Northern Beans:Â 90 mcg of folate per half cup and such nutrients & potassium.
- Asparagus:Â it 85 mcg of folate and a good source of fibre,potassium.
- Fortified Cereals:Â this boasts 100 to 400 mcg of folic acid just one cup.
- Legumes (peas, lentils):Â lentils but cooked 180 mcg of folate in half cup and number of nutrients including iron, fibre,carbs.
- Leafy Green Vegetables:Â just spinach one cup contains 100 mcg per folate.
- Broccoli:Â 104 mcg of folate per cup, one of the superfoods also vitamin c, iron,calcium&fiber.
- Whole Grain Bread:Â bread & pasta 100 mcg of folic acid.
- Brussels Sprouts:Â 47 mcg folate provides in a half-cup.
- Liver:Â just one chicken liver provides 254 mcg of folate.
- Eggs:Â 20 to 22 mcg one eggÂ
- Beets:Â 136 mcg folate

To Get Folic Acid With Food, You Need To Use The Following Products:
Keep in knowing that most of these products have a small folic acid content. For example, a portion of lettuce contains 19% of the daily norm of folic acid. In one grapefruit – 8%, in a cup of raspberries – 4%. The exception is lentils – the glass contains 90%.
Getting the necessary dose of folic acid from products, as you can see, is quite tricky, so it should be taken additionally. Choose vitamins containing 400 micrograms of folic acid and drink them every day – start 1 to 3 months before the planned conception, and then continue during pregnancy.
Drugs are containing 1-5 mg of acid, but in the ordinary course of pregnancy in a healthy woman, taking such high doses is unreasonable.
Many Neural Tube Defects Include:

- Spina bifida is a situation in which the spinal cord is damaged. Most children born with such vice survive and reach adulthood. However, they have severe disorders on the central nervous system: from paralysis to inability to control the processes of urination and defecation. These children require surgery and other treatments (most often for life).
- Anencephaly is a disease that lacks the entire brain or much of it. The vast majority of children born with this pathology die shortly after birth.
- Neural tube defects are found in about 7 out of 10,000 newborns. In half of these cases, the cause of the error is not enough folic acid in the mother’s diet.
- Consumption of folic acid before pregnancy (for 1-3 months) reduces the likelihood of neural tube defects. So the acid will have time to get an insufficient amount in the bloodstream – and the child from the first days after conception will develop in the right conditions.
- Neural tube disorders usually occur 18-30 days after conception (at this point, the woman may not know about her pregnancy). That is why it is essential to start taking folic acid before pregnancy and continue during it.
Which Food To Avoid During PregnancyÂ

Avoid:
- Excessive Use Of Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Fruits And Vegetable:Â Raw Sprouts, Unwashed Fruits & Vegetables, Unripe Papaya. Unpasteurized Juice. Unwashed Fruits/vegetables (Danger – Toxoplasmosis).
- Milk And Cheese:Â Unpasteurized Milk, Made From Raw Milk Cheeses, Blue Cheese
- Pate:Â Avoid Vegetable Pate
- Meat:Â Organ Meat, Cold Cuts, Hot Dogs, Unroasted Meat/fish (Danger –Â Toxoplasmosis).
- Eggs:Â Raw Eggs
- Some Types Of Fish:Â Swordfish, Tile (Or Golden Perch), Royal Mackerel, Shark, High-mercury Fish, Raw Fish, pike, Striped Base, salmon, walleye And Trout, Tilefish, King Mackerel. all Type Of Smoked Fish- Smoked Salmon, smoked cod, smoked tuna, smoked Trout, smoked Whitefish. (Danger – Methylmercury).
- Liver:Â Avoid Liver & Liver Products

Seafood is considered to be an essential part of a balanced diet. Fish and shellfish contain a lot of protein and little fat. At the same time, it is necessary to remember that some types of fish include methylmercury – it can disrupt the development of the child’s nervous system, even if it gets into the mother’s body before conception.
Separately, I note that methylmercury tends to accumulate in the body. Therefore, if you are planning a pregnancy, it is worth considering the possible risks and trying to protect yourself from the consumption of products containing methylmercury.
Eating these types of fish before conception can harm the child. In USA & Russia, these species are still used infrequently, but dishes from swordfish and sharks are gaining popularity. Set aside the tasting of these products for a couple of years if you are planning a pregnancy.
Methylmercury negatively affects the development of the nervous system, leads to various disorders on the part of the brain. If there is an excess of methylmercury in the body, you will not be able to notice it – there will be no symptoms.
This can only be found out if the child has impaired nervous system function. To be completely calm, take a blood mercury test and consult your doctor.

- Does this mean that fish is not safe to eat at all? No, you can eat thermally processed fish and seafood when planning and during pregnancy. But I repeat:Â avoid eating swordfish, tile, royal mackerel, and sharks.
- It is recommended to eat fish and seafood twice a week. Foods low in methylmercury include shrimp, tuna, salmon, mint, and soma. Try to give preference to these types of fish and seafood.
Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii (further toxoplasma). It can be dangerous for you and your unborn child if you become pregnant with toxoplasmosis.
Infection occurs faecal-oral way if you touch the face or eat with unwashed hands after moving objects in contact with cat faeces (land in the garden, cat toilet, cat toys). Also, you can become infected by eating raw or uncooked meat.
In about a week, the parasite will enter the bloodstream. If at this point, there is pregnancy, the parasite gets to the child through the placenta.
Often toxoplasmosis is asymptomatic. If you do have symptoms, you may feel a sore throat, fever, headache, muscle pain (particularly in the neck muscles). Symptoms occur in only 10% of patients. If you have any of these and are planning a pregnancy or are already pregnant, see your doctor.
Toxoplasma can lead to deafness, blindness, and mental retardation. In some children, these disorders may appear only a few years after birth. In this case, long-term treatment and unique adaptation and training programs are required. Early detection of toxoplasma and appropriate treatment can minimize the damage done to the child.
After the infection, the pregnancy must be postponed for at least six months. But it is worth noting: primary infection with toxoplasmosis during pregnancy is extremely rare. Often pet lovers get sick to them in childhood – in this case, there is no danger during pregnancy.
We hope you enjoying & benefited the article, Which Foods To Eat And Avoid During Pregnancy. If Any Suggestion Then Comment Hear.