Hawthorn is a good fruit, not only contains a lot of carotene and carbohydrates, but also rich in vitamins, which can effectively prevent pregnancy hypertension and heart disease. At the beginning of pregnancy, many pregnant women have serious pregnancy reaction and like to eat sour. The sweet and sour taste of hawthorn sour seems to be a good choice. But if you ask your doctor during prenatal checkups, "Can pregnant women eat hawthorn?" Obstetricians will usually shake their heads and tell you that hawthorn is not recommended, especially in the early stages of pregnancy.
The main reason that hawthorn is not recommended for pregnant women is that it can easily cause contractions, which can lead to miscarriage. Chinese medicine believes that hawthorn has the effect of activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis, and it has obvious excitatory effect on uterine smooth muscle. Excessive consumption by pregnant women will promote uterine contractions and increase the risk of miscarriage. Early pregnancy fetus is still unstable, eat hawthorn risk is much higher.
What many pregnant women don't know is that, in addition to being prone to uterine contractions, hawthorn is not recommended for pregnant women for the following two reasons:
One is to increase the risk of fetal malformation. According to the research of German scientists, the acidity in fetal tissue cells is low in early pregnancy. At this time, if the mother ingests too much acidic drugs or other acidic substances, it is easy to accumulate a large number of them in fetal tissues, affecting the normal division, proliferation and development of embryonic cells, inducing mutations in genetic material, and leading to abnormal development of the fetus. Hawthorn is a kind of strong acid food. If a pregnant woman eats too much of it, the intake of acidic substances will increase greatly. When the fetus matures in the late stages of pregnancy, the pH value in its tissues and cells is close to that of the mother's, and the acidic substances will be relatively less harmful.
The second is to stimulate the secretion of gastric acid, causing discomfort to pregnant women. After pregnancy, pregnant women are affected by the hormones in the body, and the growing fetus will press the pregnant women's stomach, so acid reflux and heartburn in pregnant women are very common. At this time, if pregnant women eat hawthorn, it is like pouring oil on the fire, it will make stomach acid increase rapidly, the concentration rises, acid reflux, heartburn is more serious, and may even cause peptic ulcer. At the same time, hawthorn will converge to stimulate the gastric mucosa. Eating too much is easy to reduce digestive ability and cause indigestion. If pregnant women consume fresh hawthorn, the tannic acid contained in fresh hawthorn will combine with minerals in the body and may also form stomach stones.
Some pregnant women may ask, hawthorn is so sour, but I just love to eat it. If I don't eat fresh hawthorn, can I eat some hawthorn products, such as hawthorn cakes and hawthorn preserves? As a matter of fact, hawthorn products are essentially the same as hawthorn, only that flavoring agents such as white sugar and salt are added during the production process, which eliminates the sourness of hawthorn to a certain extent. Although they are not so sour to eat, the content of acidic substances in hawthorn products is not small. To add insult to injury, hawthorn products tend to be high in sugar, and eating more of them may also cause pregnant women's blood sugar to rise, inducing gestational diabetes.
It's really hard to eat when you're pregnant. What are the reasons for controlling the amount?
1. Excessive stomach acid: During pregnancy, the level of hormones in the body is lower than normal. In addition, the fetus continues to develop pressing on the stomach, heartburn caused by stomach acid will certainly be more serious. At this time, if you want to eat hawthorn wildly, it will not only cause stomach acid and indigestion, but also seriously cause peptic ulcer.
2. Aggravate dental disease: hawthorn contains acidic sugar, which is a strong corrosive agent. Once the tooth enamel is corroded, will eating it all the time lead to dental caries and aggravate dental disease?
3. Increase the risk of miscarriage: hawthorn is acidic food, which can stimulate the uterus. Eating too much will promote uterine contraction and increase the risk of miscarriage. So for the sake of the baby's stable development, expectant mothers can tolerate it, or no one can stop these harms!