Whats with the Sushi? « Back to Group Discussions

[babytoes]

Okay, so I have seen it come up here a couple times, and I was wondering...

Why is everyone scared to eat sushi? I don't understand why there is this whole "Don't eat sushi while pregnant!!" campaign going on in the United States. I have had sushi since finding out I was pregnant, I did some research because I saw the scare tactics on Babycenter.com and wanted to check into it, because really? It made no sense to me. After finding out the facts, I went to my local sushi man and got myself a fabulous Salmon tornado roll... aww yumm!!

What is everyones take on this? And here are some links to some articles I read through.

http://www.babymed.com/food-and-nutrition/how-safe-it-eat-sushi-or-raw-fish-during-pregnancy

http://voices.yahoo.com/yes-eat-sushi-while-re-pregnant-467603.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/opinion/15shaw.html?_r=1

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/nutrition/foodsafety/sushiexpert/

http://www.babble.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/six-biggest-pregnancy-myths/

http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/05/true-or-false-20-common-myths-about-pregnancy/

http://lifehacker.com/5856345/10-more-stubborn-food-myths-that-just-wont-die-debunked-by-science

Whats your opinion?

[scruffy too]

I haven't done as much reading/research as you, but I'm not concerned about it.  And it seems to be one of the few foods that doesn't gross me out right now. 

[spughy]

Screw it.  I think it's important to keep as much of your regular diet as possible.  My regular diet included sushi and lots of it.  And raw milk. And lunch meats. And runny cheeses. 

I would also be all for the occasional glass of wine, except it tastes really gross to me now.  But beer - beer I can do.  Half a bottle in the late afternoon is exactly right.
 

[Dia]

I wouldn't be conerned about it. If I nomally eat sushi, I'd probably continue to do so. 

But, I am also of the opinion that a bit of caffeine and like a PP, an occasional beer, is fine too. 

[beautifulnm]

My MIL (born & raised in Japan) took me out for sushi just after finding out I was pregnant with ds. He's alive and kicking :P I also live in Hawaii and know lots of pregnant ladies still partake of poke (chopped raw fish with various things like onion, green onion, sesame oil and shoyu, or my fav, sriracha and mayo). I haven't had any recently but in the second trimester I think I'll be having some. I had poke last time around, and sushi sounds amazing right now. I read somewhere online someone tried to say that fish could have parasites that could.. and this is me paraphrasing them, not what i think.. pass through the placenta and hurt/kill the baby. I am however pretty certain even with my limited knowledge of medicine and parasites that food doesn't just get a 'rough chop' when we eat it and go straight to the baby. Also, being here and knowing much of the poke I purchase was on the auction block this morning.. I think I have less concern because of how fast it has been processed; it didn't sit in the chill for a week.

If caffeine didn't gross me out right now I'm sure I'd be sneaking some coffee sips. I also had some beers when pregnant with ds. I vaguely remember something about a study out of Berkeley or SB that correllated ladies who consumed alcohol periodically during pregnancy to higher IQs. shrug, it is what it is. Some girl tried to tell me her college roommate had one beer while she was pregnant and the baby ended up with FAS. Seriously doubt it.

[BeagleSmuggler]

I can't give up my sushi.

I figure that anything that can potentially go bad is warned against. Which, if I followed all of that would have me eating packaged food all day all the time. I'm reasonably sure that eating all that crap would be worse for me than sushi. The basic concern seems to be OMG what if you got food poisioning. We'll I trust our sushi place(s) and I'm not overly concerned. I'll also continue eating carrots, despite the very slim chance they may give me botulism.

[spughy]

I don't think you can get botulism from carrots.  Botulism is an anaerobic bacterium - it thrives in oxygen-less environments, which is why it's a problem in improperly processed canned goods.  Botulism *spores* can be in honey, but the spores are dealt with nicely by mature digestive systems (babies don't have enough acid in their tummies, it's why you don't give them honey) so not a problem when you're pregnant.  Listeria is the bad one if you're pregnant - for some reason it does carry a high risk of miscarriage from a dose that would just give a non-pregnant person tummy-wobbles - and listeria isn't usually a problem with sushi, it's more lunch meats and cheeses.  E. coli can be nasty whenever.  The sushi thing is more parasites, but I'm not convinced they're any more a problem in pregnancy than any other time.

[BeagleSmuggler]

Botulism & bagged carrots... there's been a few cases here in Ontario recently and the media have been a bit over enthusiastic in reporting them. 

[beautifulnm]

I dug up some more info after speaking to my husband.

I found this gem:

Most parasites which are fully grown into worms are visible and obvious. Fishes that contain these do not even make it to the fish market. The parasites that are of concern, if any, are the tiny larvae and the young parasites that are present in bonito and salmon. The tentacularia is found in a low percentage of bonito, and the anisakis is found in a very few salmon since it lives in fresh water during mating season. The existence of these parasites were known for a long time. The bonito has a lesser chance of having parasites which have a characteristic of living right under the skin. For this reason, the skin, along with a few millimeters of flesh underneath was always charred before it was served (tataki method). As for salmon, it was never used for sashimi or sushi until very recently.

The salmon was considered dangerous to serve for its higher chance of having parasites than bonito, and it was never eaten raw in Japan, but this was not true for the Ainu culture that lives in Northern Japan. They understood for centuries that freezing the salmon in the snow for a couple days makes it edible without any chance of stomach problems. Recent scientific studies concluded that all parasites linked to sushi can be killed off by freezing it at a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) for 24 hours. Nothing tastes better than a pre-frozen fresh sashimi, but freeze treatment is often used on other fishes used for sashimi and sushi just to be extra safe about parasites. The good news is that most seafood have to be freezed anyways when they are transported. The question to ask is at what temperature and how long.

 

SO... I'm going to the grocery store.. and buying 2 lbs of spicy ahi and putting it in the deep freeze! TONIGHT!

[spughy]

Originally Posted by BeagleSmuggler 

Botulism & bagged carrots... there's been a few cases here in Ontario recently and the media have been a bit over enthusiastic in reporting them. 

Are you sure that was botulism and not e.coli? I googled and just found info about botulism in carrot JUICE which is totally plausible (low acid, non-oxygen environment). 

[BeagleSmuggler]

No not sure just some passing media. 

[hikingfortruth]

I love sushi right now.  Have had it twice.  Drinking raw milk too...

Also, had to say I had the best Miso Soup at a little asian restaurant in Charlotte, NC last week.  

[heavyaura]

This thread has inspired me to give in to my sushi cravings as soon as possible. 

[RainGardenMama]

I just ate sushi and it was delicious

[akind1]

Our friends own a Japanese restaurant; the husband grew up in Japan and is a sushi chef. He loves serving pregnant women sushi. I love eating it! People around the world continue to eat sushi and ceviche and poke while pregnant and they are fine. Don't overdo the high mercury fish, but the thing I love about sushi is it's small portions of high quality fish anyway.

Enjoy!

The only thing I abstain from while pregnant is alcohol, it just doesn't appeal. But if it did, I would have some in moderation.