If you have recently discovered that you are pregnant, you may be worrying about how to protect your growing baby and what you can do to ensure a healthy pregnancy. Trans fats are one food you should reduce or eliminate from your diet because they contribute to health problems and may be a contributing factor in endangering your pregnancy. MayoClinic.com reports that trans fats are made by changing liquid oils into solid fats, which can enhance the taste of food and prolong its shelf life. Knowing more about trans fats is one step toward a healthy pregnancy.
Miscarriage Risk
A miscarriage is a loss of your baby before 20 weeks gestation. A miscarriage can be emotionally devastating and is usually not caused by anything a pregnant woman does or does not do. While trans fats alone are unlikely to cause a miscarriage, a poor diet that includes too much trans fats may. The University of Maryland Medical Center says that there is little you can do to prevent a miscarriage, but a healthy diet may reduce your risk factors. Reducing or completely eliminating trans fats from your diet is a way to maintain good health and help prevent complications.
Increased Risk of Illness and Disease
Pregnant or not, trans fats increase your risk of multiple illnesses and diseases, including heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes. The Baby Center adds that a diet high in trans fat may also increase your risk of cancer and high cholesterol. During pregnancy, you need to eat more food than at other times in your life, which may increase how much trans fat you consume, depending on what foods you eat. Opting for a variety of nutritious foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, will help you keep trans fats out of your diet, as well as providing you and your growing baby with the nutrients you need. These negative effects can extend to your unborn baby and affect his health even after delivery.
Low Birth Weight
Part of delivering a healthy baby is eating enough of the right foods to encourage proper growth and development. A well-balanced diet filled with a variety of nutritious foods will help support your baby's growth in utero. Baby Center reports that eating a diet that includes a lot of trans fats may increase your baby's risk of being delivered at a low birth weight. It may also increase his risk of being diagnosed as small for gestational age, which means that he is not growing as quickly as he should be.
Where Trans Fats Hide
Solid fats, such as margarine or lard, are some of the most obvious sources of trans fat, but it is lurking in more products than you may think. These dangerous fats are present in packaged cookies, cakes, pies and doughnuts, as well as some crackers, candy, fast food and potato chips. Read nutrition labels carefully to help you choose foods with healthier unsaturated fats. If the ingredient label includes partially hydrogenated oils, this is a clue that the food contains trans fat.
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