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MNHQ

Q&A with food writer Annabel Karmel about nutrition during pregnancy- ANSWERS BACK

5 replies

RachelMumsnet · 14/06/2012 09:56

Annabel Karmel is a food journalist and author of the bestselling New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, which has become the baby food 'bible' since it was first published in 1991.

Her latest book, Eating For Two, covers nutrition during pregnancy. It looks at the best foods to eat to promote conception, suggests ideas for avoiding morning sickness and the best foods to combat sleeplessness and heartburn later on in pregnancy.

Eating for Two guides expectant mothers throughout each stage of pregnancy with recipes and offers tips and advice and what to avoid.

Post your questions to Annabel before the end of Monday 18 June and we'll be linking to her answers, along with some of the recipes from her book on 28 June.

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MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 19/06/2012 09:48

The Q&A is now closed. We'll be sending up to 20 questions over to Annabel and link to her answers from this thread by 28 July.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 30/06/2012 09:37

Hi all, Annabel's answers are now back and you can read the full Q&A here:

Annabel karmel Q&A

MNHQ

ShadeMumsnet · 04/07/2012 17:39

Thank you for your responses. We are looking into the concerns and questions that have been raised and we will be responding to them shortly.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 25/07/2012 13:19

@SeventhEverything

Blimey, she answered my question. This is incorrect though "starchy carbohydrates, which are slow-burning" Starchy carbs are notoriously high GI.

Annabel Says: Carbs or carbohydrates are tricky foods to categorise, and the concept of GI has made them seem even more complicated. GI or glycemic index refers to the rate at which the carbohydrate in a food is digested and absorbed. Low GI foods produce only small increases in people's glucose levels because they contain carbs that are more slowly absorbed. Some starchy carbs are high GI, but others are medium and even low GI. Some examples of low to medium GI starchy foods include brown basmati rice, oatcakes, pita breads, fettuccine and porridge.

MNHQ

RachelMumsnet · 25/07/2012 13:23

@EauRouge

"The store of iron a baby is born with runs out at about six months"

This is not true. It starts to decrease at 6 months, it does not suddenly just stop. Lots of references here. Please, MNHQ, can you correct this? I love the Q&A sessions but people shouldn't be giving out inaccurate info like this.

Annabel says: The time when a baby's iron stores might run low will vary depending on a number of factors including whether they are breast or formula fed or given a cows milk as a drink, their mother's nutritional status, and whether they were premature, but these iron stores are decreasing from birth. At the age of 4 months the iron stores babies are born with will have decreased by half, and they will have fallen further by 6 months of age (Ref:Manual of Dietetic Practice, Thomas (ed), Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2007). It's also important to note that a baby's daily iron requirement skyrockets during their first year of life.

While few babies are at risk of anaemia due to low stores at 6 months, this is the point when it's important to start introducing solid foods since these will provide the baby's principal iron source in the future. Of course very little will be provided in the few teaspoons of solids a baby may consume in the early days of weaning, but as amounts increase and iron-rich foods are introduced these foods will provide increasing amounts of iron from the diet and reduce the dependence on the baby's dwindling stores they've had since birth.

While iron stores may last well into the second 6 months, depending on the baby, the consequences of iron deficiency to a baby's development are too awful to depend on this. In any case, babies need to have solids introduced at this age for other reasons. Keeping iron-rich foods in mind as they become suitable is just one of the ways the weaning process begins the transition towards an healthy solid-based diet that meets a baby's changing needs.

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