Liver?

[Sophieelmer]

So a big plate of liver and onions, what harm could it really do? I can't stop thinking about it

as a one off it probably won't do harm but it shouldn't be a regular thing due to too much Vitamin A

it would be an offence on the taste buds at the very least.

yeah, I agree it would be disgusting too

Plus side for you poor doubters is you don't know what your missing. It's a delight I tell you!

So the thing with the liver... I am so confused about it! My mom had me end of 70s in what is now a CIS country and my brother mid 90s in Austria. She was shocked to hear from me that liver is on the tabu list. In her time liver was recommended as part of healthy diet and she was eating it during her both pregnancies. Well, certainly not very often but surely 5-6 times over each pregnancy. Both me and my bro turned out fine (DH may disagree re me though )

I know exactly what I'm missing. I've eaten liver and onions before... Never again

The problem is, it's disgusting. It also has too much vitamin A to be eating on a regular basis. Too much vitamin A from plant sources isn't a problem during pregnancy, but too much vitamin A from animal sources can be. Too much vitamin A from animal sources can cause birth defects. This is why they tell you not to take Accutane or use skin creams with retinol during pregnancy.

I'm not planning on eating it every day, but have done some reading and decided 100g of chicken liver as a one off, now I'm in the 2nd trimester won't do any harm. So got some coming in my next online shop.

I love liver and onions, with mash and gravy, mmm. As a one off I personally think it's fine, you're not going to jack up your Vit A levels with one serving. I had a portion (aka as much as I could eat!) of chicken liver pate and Christmas and it was heaven, with pate it's practically half butter anyway so not too bad. I regret nothing!

My friends mum craved liver when pregnant, she ate it every day with her first pregnancy, and her son is fine. Well, he's a bit odd, but it's not related to liver consumption :P

I'd avoid it in the first trimester for sure. Retinoids (retinoids acid, for example) are signalling molecules which influences the layout of the body plan. The embryo is quite sensitive to it in the first trimester, and too much can cause body plan birth defects.

If you eat the plant form, beta carotene, your body will just discard what it doesn't need, but not so animal derived. Vit a is also fat soluble so it can build up.

There are some probably quite paranoid things we are told to avoid during pregnancy, but liver is on the list for good reason. Having said that, please don't panic about having succumbed to the livery lure once ;)

I have dissected too many livers to ever fancy eating one....

Retinoic acid. Stupid ipad :)

Liver is on the list for good reason, namely that it's disgusting I was so incredibly happy when I was a kid in the 80's and they said liver was high in cholesterol and we shouldn't eat it. My mom stopped inflicting it on us, and I haven't eaten it since. (Dietary cholesterol isn't so bad? LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU)

Here's the March of Dimes site on the birth defects that too much vitamin A can cause.