How eating more carbs can protect mums and their babies from deadly preeclampsia
KIM K, Kate Middleton and Beyonce all suffered from it but scientists now believe that pre-eclampsia might be avoided if mums-to-be eat more fibre.
New research has shown that during pregnancy, eating your fill of plant-based fibre is absolutely crucial for keeping mum and baby healthy.
It's all to do with keeping the gut happy.
Scientists from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre, the Barwon Infant Study from Deakin University, Monash University, James Cook University and the Australian National University collaborated to investigate the role of gut bacteria during pregnancy.
Their recommendation? "Eat real food, mostly plants and not too much".
So bang goes the theory of "eating for two".
Lack of fibre puts mums at risk
The study found that women who don't have high levels of acetate - a chemical produced by fibre fermenting in the gut - are more at risk of preeclampsia.
Preeclampsia occurs in up to 10 per cent of pregnancies and can be incredibly serious.
It can cause high blood pressure, protein in the urine and severe swelling in the mum.
It can also interfere with the baby's immune development in the womb, with evidence suggesting that it can raise the risk of allergies and autoimmune diseases later in life.
This new study also found that preeclampsia affected the development of an important fetal internal organ called the thymus, which sits just behind the breastbone.
Preeclampsia can cause issues later in life
Preeclampsia seems to make a baby's thymus smaller than babies from healthy pregnancies.
The thymus creates T cells which are associated with preventing allergies and autoimmune diseases like diabetes.
Even four years after being born, babies from preeclampsia pregnancies were found to have fewer T cells than other kids.
Together, these results suggested that the gut plays a massive role in healthy pregnancies and the health of children into the future.
Possible explanation for rapid increase in allergies
And it suggests a possible explanation for the rapid increase of allergies and autoimmune diseases in the Western world.
"More studies are urgently needed to understand how we can best target this system to reduce the growing burden of immune-related diseases in the modern world," said co-author Peter Vuillermin, co-lead of the Barwon Infant Study, a major birth cohort study being conducted by the Child Health Research Unit at Barwon Health in collaboration with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and Deakin University.
Symptoms of preeclampsia
Many people don’t notice the signs of pre-eclampsia, which means it’s usually picked up during routine antenatal appointments.
Early signs include having high blood pressure (hypertension) and protein in their urine (proteinuria).
Symptoms can include:
- swelling of the feet, ankles, face and hands
- severe headache
- vision problems
- pain just below the ribs
Fibre crisis in Western diets
We don't eat anywhere enough fibre these days, with 90 per cent of Brits not getting enough of the crucial nutrient.
But it's actually really easy to get roughage into your every diet without having to guzzle down spoons of bran every day.
Fibre is so important to our everyday health.
It's the stuff that ensures we don't go too long without having a poo. It wards off things like heart attacks and stroke. It can improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels - crucial in preventing or managing diabetes.
Oh, and it also protects many of us from developing bowel cancer.
You need to eat 30g of fibre a day which is quite do-able if you make sure you're getting a good dose at every meal.
Here's what to eat to make sure you're getting enough rough(age) in your life and how much you'd have to eat of them to meet the RDA:
1. Oats
Not only is porridge a really filling breakfast, but it also offers up a tonne of roughage.
Half a cup of rolled oats contains 5.7g of fibre.
2. Wholegrain pasta
One cup of whole grain (brown) pasta contains 8.3g of fibre - more than double that of white pasta.
So if you love your penne, it's definitely worth making the swap.
3. Broccoli
Loads of veg is high in fibre, including carrots, beetroots, Brussel sprouts and broccoli.
Brocolli is also one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, loaded with vitamin C, K, B, folate, iron, manganese and tonnes of antioxidants.
It's also got a good whack of protein - so it's something to load up on if you're a veggie.
Fibre-wise, it contains 2.4g per cup.
4. Berries
As well as being rich in cancer-busting antioxidants, fruits like raspberries, blackberries and strawberries are really high in fibre (thanks largely to the seeds).
They're quite expensive to buy fresh - at least in the winter - but you can buy them much cheaper in the frozen cabinets. A big bag of mixed berries costs around £2 from most supermarkets. Simply blitz them up with some milk and you've got a fibrous drink!
One cup of raspberries contains 8g of fibre.
5. Dark chocolate
Good news for all you chocolate lovers. Dark chocolate is not only mega-high in antioxidants and other nutrients, but it also has a pretty high fibre content too.
A 28g piece contains 3.1g of fibre.
Just make sure that you're going for chocolate with 85 per cent cocoa and above, because that'll have less added sugar and fat.
6. Wholegrain bread
It's time to stop being scared of eating bread, because wholemeal bread contains a stack of heart-healthy fibre.
100g contains around 7g of roughage. Hovis Wholemeal contains 2g per slice, as well as vitamin B1 and protein (2.9g per slice).
7. Potatoes
Jacket potatoes offer more fibre than two slices of wholemeal bread - and they're a super easy meal!
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One small potato contains 3g of fibre, while a 175g serving of boiled new potatoes also gives you 11 per cent of your recommended daily allowance of fibre.
Boil them in the minimum amount of water possible or keep the skins on to retain as much of the vitamins as possible.
So there are loads of highly fibrous foods out there that you can include in your diet - even if you're trying to go low-carb.