Is it harmful to eat honey during pregnancy?
Eating honey during pregnancy will not harm you and your baby. Honey contains high levels of B vitamins. It is completely safe to eat honey during pregnancy. However, if you have gestational diabetes, you should be careful when consuming it or stop consuming honey completely.
Can honey be eaten during pregnancy?
Yes, it is edible, eating honey during pregnancy will not harm your baby.
Babies under one year old should not be fed honey, but eating honey while pregnant will not harm you or your unborn baby. While the bacteria called botulism in honey can make 1-year-old babies sick, the stomach of adults neutralizes this bacteria.
Even if the bacteria manage to cross your stomach, research shows that it is very unlikely to pass through the placenta to your unborn baby. In rare cases when pregnant women suffer from botulism, the disease has not been detected in their babies.
However, if you have gastrointestinal problems or abnormalities, such as Crohn’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, or previous stomach surgery, it may be best to avoid honey for your own health. Adults and older children with these conditions may be more susceptible to infection from the bacteria in honey that cause botulism.
From a nutritional standpoint, honey can be a tasty and slightly healthier alternative to sugar. Honey contains small amounts of antioxidants, minerals, and enzymes that can be beneficial for your health. It can also be used as a cough medicine or to soothe a sore throat, and some types of honey have been shown to help heal wounds.
Do not overdo it when consuming honey. Honey should be consumed with caution as it contains high levels of sugar. It is recommended that women do not exceed 6 teaspoons of sugar intake per day. If you have trouble with your weight or gestational diabetes and need to control your blood sugar, you may want to avoid honey and other added sugars altogether.
What honey to eat during pregnancy?
You can find unpasteurized or raw honey at a bee farm, roadside stall, or farmer’s market. There are no studies on the safety of raw honey during pregnancy, but there is no reason to believe that it is unsafe. Unpasteurized honey does not carry the risk of listeriosis, which is seen in unpasteurized cheese and deli meats. In fact, raw honey probably contains more antioxidants because it’s less processed than pasteurized honey.
Most honey sold in stores is pasteurized – not for safety reasons, but for storage and to improve appearance. Honey is pasteurized in a method similar to that used to pasteurize milk. It is heated to 71 degrees for 15 to 30 seconds and then quickly cooled. This process kills the yeast cells (not the botulism spores) so that the honey does not ferment. Pasteurization also slows down the crystallization process, so the honey remains liquid longer.
Sometimes manufacturers add unhealthy sweeteners, such as corn syrup, to pasteurized honey. To avoid these fillers, check that the ingredients label only says honey.
Why babies are not given honey
Honey may contain bacteria that can multiply in the baby’s gut and cause paralysis and cause infant botulism, a rare disease that is potentially fatal. Babies’ intestines are not developed enough to destroy bacteria, so you need to keep honey away from your baby until your baby is 1 year old.
