When you're pregnant, everything you eat is a consideration. From the caffeine in a cup of coffee to the minerals and nutrients in seafood, you wonder whether it's acceptable to eat as you might have before you were expecting. Some seafood is fine to eat when pregnant or breastfeeding, but other seafood is better left alone.
What to Avoid
The mercury content is too high in some seafood, making shark, king mackerel, swordfish and tilefish potentially dangerous if you eat it too often. The reason is that mercury builds up in your bloodstream; it isn't flushed out of your body. This doesn't mean you need to avoid these fish altogether, but MayoClinic.com states that eating them regularly over time might cause damage to your developing fetus' brain and nervous system. In addition, seafood from lakes or streams polluted with industrial runoff, such as pike, bluefish, salmon, striped bass, walleye and trout, should be left alone. While these fish are not sold at grocery stores, they might be fresh-caught by friends or family who fish these waters. If you're uncertain about your local waterways, contact the Environmental Protection Agency for current status.
What to Eat
Seafood offers many nutritional benefits. It contains healthy omega-3 fatty acids, protein and iron, all of which lend themselves to a healthy diet. Don't avoid seafood altogether. Instead, focus on seafood that is known to be low in mercury. MayoClinic.com recommends crab, tilapia, pollock, shrimp, salmon, catfish and cod.
Smoked Foods
If you regularly consume lox, kippered fish or jerky, you need to hold off until after your pregnancy, and after nursing if you are breastfeeding. These smoked foods can contain Listeria, a bacteria that might lead to miscarriage or stillbirth. Smoked foods marked "shelf safe" or contained in cans will not contain this bacteria and are safe to eat.
Raw Foods
Fresh-shucked oysters on the half shell, clams and sushi are not to be consumed while pregnant. While they contain many healthy proteins, vitamins and minerals, the risk of infection is too high. As these foods aren't cooked, the bacteria or seaborne illness from red tide, for example, makes them a food left to those who aren't pregnant.
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