sorry if i'm repeating what's already been said coz of course I can't be bothered reading the whole 21 pages of this thread The problem with guidelines is that they tend to change over time - for instance a few decades ago breastfed babies were routinely given water before weaning, where now giving a healthy b/f baby anything but the breast is a no-no.
Likewise, my gran's generation were told to stick to routine feeding, then the advice changed towards feeding on demand, now all of my parenting books say the 4-hourly feeding routine was based on research on bottle-fed babies and is totally wrong for b/f ones, yet my midwife kept going on about "feed him every 3-4 hours".
I recently stumbled upon a scientific publication which suggests supplementation with folates and vitamin B12 may markedly increase the risk of asthma in offspring, both in families with a history of asthma and those without. The authors argue that the rise in asthma in children in the past few decades could be due to pregnant women being given nuclear doses of folic acid but say that risk of asthma has to be weighed against the dangers of folate deficiency. Now this line of research is very recent and ongoing so hasn't yet fed into any guidelines.
Many of these guidelines seem to be politically/socially motivated as well, e.g. I really do think the medical community okaying an "occasional" drink or fag has more to do with the fact that they don't want to alienate the majority of their patients than with some supposedly recently discovered benefits of "occasional" drinking for foetal development.
Wouldn't it be SAFER and EASIER tho to follow those guidelines that are in place at this moment in time rather than hope they may change at some point.
Also I do agree with the folks here who say risk of DEATH from listeria, however small, is worse than the risk of say one glass of wine on your birthday (tho having a b/day every other day while pg is prob not the best idea )
As for the brits being very relaxed it's very true, I have family in Russia and the restrictions on what pregnant and breastfeeding women can and can't eat are unreal over there. While over here even chocolate is ok even tho cocoa is known to be one of the strongest allergens ever.
On the whole I think going with your gut feeling is fine so long as it doesn't involve the risk of death or abnormalities. So I'd say play safe and be thankful we're still allowed chocolate here he-he (tho i personally switched to shortbread just to be on the safe side - and getting through 8-9 packs a week! )