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Originally Posted by Quirky
Jadzia, women in this country don't have so many c-sections because their babies are too big - they have so many c-sections because they give birth in a hospital with tons of interventions like: routine IVs, routine epidurals, routine external (or internal) fetal monitoring, no eating/drinking in labor, trying to give birth on their backs instead of upright...although a percentage of c-sections are necessary, the majority are iatrogenic (i.e. caused by medical mismanagement).
Women in Asia, Africa etc. are generally giving birth upright and unmedicated, as nature intended. It doesn't have to do with having smaller babies.
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I agree that the unnecessary medical interventions that occur here do cause most of the unnecessary C-sections in this country. However, that is ignoring the fact that women who move here and adopt our diets DO end up having much larger babies than they do eating their native, indigeonous diets. That contributes to C-sections (and more difficult deliveries), also.
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Originally Posted by party_of_six
To Jadzia: You need to do a little reading....there is quite a bit of science behind the high protein diet for pregnancy...also called the Brewer diet.
Check out http://www.blueribbonbaby.org
Limiting protein can cause many other health problems during pregnancy. Yes, you WILL probably end up with a smaller baby that way, but it sure would be an unhealthy way to do it.  |
Excuse me, but I have read extensively about this (nutrition is my hobby and I read everything I can about the subject.) Most Americans consume far too much protein than is necessary and excess protein causes a good amount of medical problems (kidney stones, osteoporosis, etc.)
You should be aware that breastmilk (the world's most perfect food) is only 5% protein. That seems to be nature's way of telling us we do not need the outrageous amounts of protein that many people think we do. If a newborn baby who is growing the most in his life needs such a low amount of protein, why would he need so much more in utero?
Please let me know exactly what "health problems" are associated with moderate protein intake? The truth is, as long as you are eating a varied diet of enough calories, you are getting enough protein! The Atkins diet and other fad diets have only contributed to this mass "protein hysteria" but it simply is not true. The countries that consume the highest amount of carbohydrates (and the least amount of protein) do not get the diseases that are so prevalent in the West. Protein is necessary, but it is not the "magic bullet" that is missing from most American's diets. (Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains grains are in much shorter supply in our diets than protein). I'd worry more about the majority of Americans who aren't consuming enough plant foods vs. not consuming enough protein. Protein deficiency is so utterly rare in this country that doctors don't even know how to tell the signs of it. I have only heard of it occurring in people who are famine victims or people suffering from eating disorders (ie people who are not consuming enough calories).
I have a great book called "Your Vegetarian Pregnancy" that discusses a British study comparing the babies of vegetarian women and meat-eating women. The babies were all similarly healthy and had identical average Apgar scores. The ONLY notable difference was that the babies of vegetarian women were slightly smaller (6.5 pounds vs. 7.3 pounds). They explained this difference as being due to the more moderate average protein consumption by the vegetarian women during pregnancy.
It seems to me telling a woman who is trying not to have a large baby to over-dose on protein is not very sage advice.
The RDA for protein in pregnant women is 70 grams (which is higher than what most people need but the RDA usually is always rounded up.) The World Health organization recommends pregnant women get 6% of their calories as protein (7% for lactating women). Protein is in most foods and it adds up; these guidelines are quite easy for most pregnant women to maintain without trying too hard (especially with the amount of food most of us pregnant ladies consume in a day.
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