Spicy food during pregnancy

Spicy food during pregnancy – is it safe?

Some time ago it was established that the diet of an expectant mother does not have to change radically compared to what a woman ate before pregnancy. Of course, one should pay attention to the foods that are not allowed during pregnancy, i.e. raw fish, meat, eggs or unpasteurised dairy products. Alcohol is also forbidden in any quantity.

Many pregnant women have all kinds of cravings during pregnancy. Some of them mention hot and spicy foods. There is no evidence that eating them has any negative effects on the pregnancy or the baby’s development. However, it should be remembered that eating too spicy food can make symptoms such as heartburn or stomach pain worse for many expectant mothers. In this case, it is better to avoid spicy foods during pregnancy so as not to aggravate the unpleasant symptoms.

Spicy food is the speciality of many foreign cuisines such as Asian, which we often eat in restaurants. When eating out, one should always pay attention to the quality of the restaurant and its cleanliness, as well as the hygiene in the preparation of the food. For a pregnant woman, for example, it is important that vegetables are cut on different boards than meat. Meat, on the other hand, should always be well roasted or cooked. 

Eating spicy food before delivery

Eating spicy food before birth is considered by many to be one of the ways to induce labour. For this reason, expectant mothers who have already passed their due date and are using various methods to speed up the birth choose to eat spicy foods, among other things. There are no studies that prove the effectiveness of this method, but there is nothing to stop pregnant women from trying it out for themselves. If there are signs of early induction of labour, the gynaecologist will of course refer the woman to hospital, where medical measures will then be taken to avoid possible complications.

The consumption of spicy food and the sex of the baby

Many people, especially when our mothers and grandmothers were young, believed in all kinds of myths about the timing of pregnancy. One popular myth was to “guess” the sex of the baby based on various criteria such as the shape of the belly or the desire of the mother-to-be. It was assumed that women expecting a daughter had a greater craving for sweet foods, and for sour foods a son. Cravings for spicy foods gave no indication of the sex of the baby. However, these are only superstitions and not scientifically proven facts.