Is it Safe to Eat Cheese During Pregnancy?

Cheese is everywhere, in the yummiest of foods. In fact, I can't think of one dish that contains cheese and is not delicious. If you are an expecting mother, I am pretty sure your cravings are uncontrollable right now, and you just can't stop yourself from eating either a cheesecake, pizza, macaroni, dips, lasagna, burgers, or salads with a ton of cheese sauces and everything else you can put cheese in. But, there are so many precautions to be taken regarding food during pregnancy. Cheese is derived from the coagulation of proteins and fats present in milk through fermentation. This means that it obviously contains bacteria. So, is it good to eat cheese during pregnancy? Are the bacteria found in cheese harmful for your baby's health? Well, generally, hard cheese is safer than soft cheese as pasteurization kills pathogens that could harm the fetus. Also, the question of safety largely depends on the cheese you are eating because there are so many types of cheese. Let's delve further in to this, and understand whether you should give in to your craving for cheese during pregnancy.

Eating Cheese During Pregnancy

While eating cheese during pregnancy, you need to ensure that the cheese was made of pasteurized milk and not raw milk! This is because raw milk contains a harmful bacteria, called Listeria monocytogenes, that can cause several diseases, especially to the fetus, by passing through the placenta. This is more likely in case of soft cheese, as they are made of raw milk, making them less acidic. Also, they have more moisture than hard cheese, which makes them the perfect breeding ground for Listeria and other bacteria. However, these bacteria are generally killed during the process of pasteurization making cheese made from pasteurized milk safe to consume. I must point out that, only 1,600 Americans are victimized by this bacteria found in unpasteurized dairy products, every year. Listeria is known to be responsible for blood poisoning and deadly infections like listeriosis, meningitis and several flu symptoms. Unfortunately, pregnant women are at a higher risk of the ill effects of Listeria because the body's defense mechanism becomes more vulnerable. They may suffer from nausea, vomiting and muscle aches. These symptoms develop within 2 to 30 days of ingestion of Listeria. According to statistics, pregnant women have 20 times higher chance of suffering from listeriosis. Nonetheless, it is detrimental to your baby's health and can even lead to birth complications like preterm labor, stillbirth or a miscarriage, though it may not be fatal to your health. Did you know? 22 in 100 cases of listeriosis in pregnant women result in death of the baby. So, avoid soft cheese during pregnancy like

• Camembert
• Brie
• Cambozola
• All kinds of goat cheese or chèvre that is mold-ripened like feta cheese, castelo branco
• All types of blue-veined cheese like Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Danish blue