So... is there anything we can eat?

[durness]

Hello, I'm here at my wife's behest as she's about to go out of her mind (and I'm close behind). She's been trawling the internet for advice and tips regarding pregnancy (we're into the thirteenth week & just had the scan today - amazing!) and what she's found has left her fearful of eating any of the foods that she's spent her life consuming.

This is the website page that concerns her:
www.cancertutor.com/pregnant/#.UtWuQjGDQTE

Now, we both recognise that this guy is making quite a few controversial claims in the website that we don't intend to pay any heed to (concerning e.g. vaccines) so maybe this page should be taken with a gigantic snort of salt... but... we can't find anything conclusive in response.

Sticking with the MSG section as this is what is keeping my wife from her favourite foods, there are two issues here for us: one is whether or not MSG is indeed harmful to a foetus's brain development, the other is whether 'free glutamates' are just as 'bad'. We're not asking people to comment so much on MSG itself or we'll never get anywhere. Instead, our concerns are with the foodstuffs that the website claims have the same effect via free glutamates.

I've included the list of 'danger' foods below (with my exasperated annotations in {}). Worth noting that yeast extract does for a lot of stuff, ditto 'natural flavourings' (bye-bye Worcestershire sauce)... and 'Spices' (!) even rules out tomato ketchup. So not just a problem for consumers of oriental foods... if there is indeed a problem.

We'd both be enormously grateful if anyone could set our minds at rest. Or maybe you can back up the claims and my wife is going to have to put up with unseasoned tomato juice if we don't want a kid with mushy brains. But: science is good, we'd like to see lots of it.

Cheers.

PS: there's a whole 'nother issue surrounding scaremongering and such but let's save that debate for another day...!

That list:

^Food Additives That ALWAYS Contain MSG
Monosodium Glutamate [MSG]
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein [HVP]
Hydrolyzed Protein; Hydrolyzed Plant Protein
Plant Protein Extract
Sodium Caseinate
Calcium Caseinate
Yeast Extract
Textured Protein (Including TVP)
Autolyzed Yeast
Hydrolyzed Oat Flour
Corn Oil {REALLY...?}

Food Additives That FREQUENTLY Contain MSG
Malt Extract
Malt Flavoring
Bouillon {ARGH}
Broth {ARGH}
Stock {ARGH}
Flavoring {ARGH}
Natural Flavors/Flavoring {ARGH}
Natural Beef or Chicken Flavoring {ARGH}
Seasoning {WHAT???}
Spices {OH FOR THE LOVE OF}

Food Additives That MAY Contain MSG Or Excitotoxins
Carrageenan
Enzymes {WHAT DOESN'T CONTAIN ENZYMES?!}
Soy Protein Concentrate
Soy Protein Isolate
Whey Protein Concentrate^

My God. Now....on the subject of MSG, there are plenty of Chinese brainiacs out there, likewise India (where lots of spices are consumed) isn't short of geniuses (or should that be genii)... This sort of thing really annoys me. Yes it's a bad idea to eat a lot of processed food, but you can't avoid it altogether and if you're craving marmite, you're craving marmite! For sensible advice have a look at: what to eat when you're pregnant by Dr Rana Conway- an awesome book!

dr rana conway book for weaning babies is fantastic too.... just saying

Thank everyone for taking the time to respond, even those who were quite dismissive - I don't blame you! (As it happens, no, an anonymous Internet forum is not the only place we've turned to.)

Things have calmed down now; madam's still a bit twitchy on certain stuff but much less than before.

And I agree, the guy behind that website is a first class crank.

Cheers

The writer of this website is a lunatic. My 'favourite' page so far on this website is this one which recommends curing advanced cancer by eating grapes. Exclusively. For weeks.

www.cancertutor.com/grapecure/

The problem with websites like this is when people are scared and vulnerable their sense of reason goes out of the window and they can become very attached to quackery thinking very quickly, which can be extremely damaging when you consider that there are probably desperate people out there trying to avoid surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy by following these ridiculous claims, and completely ignoring more conventional (rational) advice and treatments.

As for the MSG concerns, given the increase in use of MSG and other food additives over the past 50 or so years, if this claim was true it would naturally follow that birth weights would be decreasing and overall life expectancy would have decreased over the past 50 years. Of course the reality is that the opposite is happening (although the life expectancy rate is now starting to decrease again due to obesity, but that's a different issue).

KitKat1985 - exactly. We were going through a stressful priod for reasons other than the pregnancy anyway and my wife was feeling a bit fatalistic - anything and everything was lining up to ruin what felt like the one good thing we had.

Thankfully we've had a lot of good news recently, which I think has helped with perspective. That and the fact she reached a powerful 'fuck it' point when gagging for katsu curry...

Agree with summerbaby2014 don't go on google- you'll drive yourselves nuts!! I'm looking down at my perfect 7 week old and thinking how I must have eaten a tin of spaghetti hoops everyday for about a month at the start of my pregnancy- not winning mother of the year any time soon but not the end of the world either! You really don't want to get in the habit of googling everything because when the baby arrives you really will go mad- I googled "newborn breathing erratically" and nearly made myself throw up with the results!

You can eat most things. The idea of not eating ketchup is ludicrous. Just don't smoke or drink more than about one alcoholic drink a week. You need to seriously relax.

Quackery.

"Spices" ... hmm... aren't the most populated (and academically minded if the government is to be believed) countries in Asia where spices etc' are used constantly?

Go with the NHS guidelines. And them alone.

As someone with a blood condition (who even "takes drugs"- medication for said blood condition - specifically to keep my pregnancy safe) I spent years blaming myself because of this utter, evil woman-hating nonsense out there on Dr Google. Now I am diagnosed and better informed, it enrages me, all it does is create stress and misery for vulnurable pregnant women.