Perception of food-related risks by pregnant women and breastfeeding women

Section: Editorial

How to quote

Fàbregas Mitjans M. Percepción del riesgo alimentario por parte de mujeres embarazadas y mujeres lactantes. Metas Enferm jul/ago 2021; 24(6):3-4. Doi: https://doi.org/10.35667/MetasEnf. 2021.24.1003081776

Authors

The interest regarding food in industrialized societies focuses in knowing if their diet is adequate in terms of quality, harmlessness, and safety. Socioeconomic and demographical changes and technological development have triggered new ways of manufacturing, processing, and distributing food products, with impact on the consumer. Doubts and concerns regarding health have encouraged distrust for the process of food preparation, as well as for the substances used as additives or preservatives, mainly. This suspicion generates certain misgivings regarding those products prepared with an unknown source of raw material, as well as for the products added. Said products represent a systematic and prolonged intake of chemical substances, and little is known about their consequences upon health. The majority of these are persistent toxic compounds; these contaminants are ingested through products such as fish, meat, vegetables, and fruit. Besides, they have the peculiarity of entering the food chain, building up in the fatty tissues of animals, and finally reaching the human body through intake. The degradation of persistent toxic compounds is difficult; they will stay in the environment and in living organisms for long periods of time, and can cause harmful consequences on health (1).Pregnant women and breastfeeding women perceive the food-related risk for their own health and the health of the baby, and they are able to identify some substances present in food based

Position

Doctora en Enfermería por la Universidad de Barcelona. Jefa de Pediatría y NeonatosHospital del Mar de Barcelona.

Contact email: MFabregas@parcdesalutmar.cat

The interest regarding food in industrialized societies focuses in knowing if their diet is adequate in terms of quality, harmlessness, and safety. Socioeconomic and demographical changes and technological development have triggered new ways of manufacturing, processing, and distributing food products, with impact on the consumer. Doubts and concerns regarding health have encouraged distrust for the process of food preparation, as well as for the substances used as additives or preservatives, mainly. This suspicion generates certain misgivings regarding those products prepared with an unknown source of raw material, as well as for the products added. Said products represent a systematic and prolonged intake of chemical substances, and little is known about their consequences upon health. The majority of these are persistent toxic compounds; these contaminants are ingested through products such as fish, meat, vegetables, and fruit. Besides, they have the peculiarity of entering the food chain, building up in the fatty tissues of animals, and finally reaching the human body through intake. The degradation of persistent toxic compounds is difficult; they will stay in the environment and in living organisms for long periods of time, and can cause harmful consequences on health (1).

Pregnant women and breastfeeding women perceive the food-related risk for their own health and the health of the baby, and they are able to identify some substances present in food based on four categories (2): a) through the organoleptic characteristics that these substances confer to food (flavour, colour, odour, textures); b) by the level of impact on health that women believe these substances cause; c) by the handling of products in the food chain or home preparation; and d) by the interaction of these substances in the body (elimination, transmission to the fetus during pregnancy or to the baby during breastfeeding, or accumulation).

Pregnant and breastfeeding women have higher sensitivity regarding this last point, due to the impact that these substances might cause on the fetus or the newborn. In this sense, some women stop eating certain foods because they believe that toxic compounds will build up in their body (for example, they stop eating fish because they believe that mercury is accumulated in their bodies). Some women reduce the intake of some foods during this stage, or replace them by others with less chemicals added.  They are also usually aware of the process of transplacental transmission of substances to the fetus or newborn, or through breastfeeding. At the time of choosing which foods to eat during these stages, women will look for information in different sources; on one hand, they consult healthcare professionals, but they also look for information in the media and through friends or relatives. Healthcare professionals are the best valued regarding the information provided in follow-up visits for pregnancy or post-partum monitoring. Women consider that obstetricians, midwives, and pediatric nurses are the professionals who provide the most reliable information. Even so, they consider that they receive limited information, because the subjects more widely addressed during consultations are: alcohol, smoking, toxoplasma, anisakis, and occasionally listeria.  There is lack of information about other subjects of interest for pregnant women, who will end up turning to other less reliable sources, in order to get that information still not obtained through professionals. One of the underlying reasons for the lack of advice regarding food-related risks associated with eating certain food products consists in the lack of knowledge by healthcare professionals about persistent toxic contaminants in food. For this reason, it is essential that professionals are aware of the toxic substances present in food products that might have a negative impact on the health of pregnant and breastfeeding women and their babies, in order to provide adequate information and offer diet advice according to their needs and concerns.

Bibliography

  1. Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición. Contaminantes Orgánicos Persistentes. Ministerio de Consumo [internet] enero 2021 [citado 16 may 2021]. Disponible en: https://www.aesan.gob.es/AECOSAN/web/seguridad_alimentaria/subdetalle/contaminantes_organicos.htm
  2. Fàbregas M. Percepción del riesgo alimentario en las mujeres embarazadas y lactantes en Sant Feliu de Llobregat. Tesis doctoral. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona; 2020.