I am in the middle of eating a tomato basil pizza with fresh basil.on it when i remembered hearing that pregnant women should i avoid basil. I looked it up online and see that small amounts of it should be fine. So i am still eat8 the pizza but picking off the larger pieces of basil lol.
Do you avoid basil?
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I had never heard of that before. So, nope!
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no, lol I have never heard of this. Like everything else food-related......I just feel like if tiny amounts of (basil/cinnamon/vitamin C/whatever else) really could interfere seriously with pregnancy, we would know about it - there would be no question in the hundreds of thousands of years we've been eating basil and having babies. Enjoy your pizza
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Haha
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I've never heard this one! Definitely not going to avoid basil, it's delicious
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Ha, nope.
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We make fresh pesto and eat basil by the handfuls. So nope, never heard of it being something to avoid and have eaten lots of it during each pregnancy.
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My doctor gave me a list of herbal teas and herbs that are known to irritate the uterus and links to miscarriage. Obviously some people will drink or eat those herbs with no effect. But that's always has been googling herbs. Especially if it's in a large amount like basil on my pizza
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Um, no. Never heard that one before!
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Well i finished the pizza lol. I think picking off the big pieces made me feel better. Also reading all your posts reassured me.
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Um, no.
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Never heard that, so no!
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I googled it and the first site that came up said it was a pregnancy super food.
I imagine the difference is fresh vs. dry. You're not going to eat nearly as much fresh basil as you would ingest if it was dried or in a tea.
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Nope. I have never been told to avoid it!
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Didn't know about this so nope!
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@MaryM: oh that's a good point !
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I was also someone who googled everything and was particularly interested in herbs, teas, and things like that (to ingest and in products applied to the body) and detemined a lot of potential dangers were in people using herbs in large doses, more as a supplement, rather than any amount you could ingest in your normal life. I was still conservative with teas and products but didn't worry about eating herbs onice I read that.
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From Google, it looks like it's large/strong doses like in an essential oil. I'd never heard that before! I love fresh basil and will be having some with my dinner tonight
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ummmm. no. gimme all the caprese!
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Great now I want pizza with some mozzarella and basil
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Huh?
I have two children and have never, ever heard this.
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No.
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I did not know this was a thing.
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I've never heard of this before, so no. Pasta with homemade pesto was one of my staple meals while pregnant.
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Never heard of that one. I are lots of pesto too!
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I've never heard you were supposed to. I had an amazing caprese panini with tons of basil yesterday and plan on putting fresh basil in my pasta tonight. Yum!
I think if you google almost anything + pregnancy there's going to be some information out there telling you to avoid it.
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Thanks everyone
@JerricaBenton: yeah i am the same as you in terms of googling everything. I'm never just reassured by someone saying they eat/do something without adverse reaction. Some people are chain smokers and are healthy but that doesn't make smoking healthy.
@gilmoregirl: yes i saw that too about the large doses being unsafe. I wasnt certain what counted as a large dose though. But your post makes sense
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@Mrsbells: semen has prostaglandins, which can cause contractions (which is what a few articles say basil can do, though I haven't seen any evidence) and cervical ripening but there's very few situations where sex is not recommended or that semen would trigger preterm labor.
I agree a few people saying it wasn't a problem isn't evidence but when there's plenty of cultures that incorporate basil frequently into their meals with no apparent adverse effects, I donno, my Italian side is quite robust despite their basil love. -
Ha - wow! I hadn't heard this either! With both my last and current pregnancy (currently 33 weeks) I have had a giant caprese salad pretty much every day of the last trimester--which equals about a half bunch of basil every day for me! No adverse effects that I'm aware of (and my LO is OBSESSED with tomatoes and basil and vinegar--pretty sure she imprinted on those flavors in utero!)
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@Maysprout: haha, yeah I'm just an over cautious person when it comes to things not to eat /do. For instance i avoid caffeine completely despite my doctor telling me that small amounts are ok. Thats just me.
@stratosphere: hahah, tomato & basil are such a good combo!
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@Mrsbells: I avoided caffeine too with my first pregnancy too (at a quarter to half cup with my third - just too tired). There's plenty of research evidence to suggest some negative association with pregnancy and caffeine consumption. I just don't see any research that suggests a negative with basil.
Like vitamin C there's some evidence that at very high doses can cause miscarriage but that doesn't mean at all that vitamin C should be avoided while pregnant, it'd be unhealthy to avoid it.
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Uh, no. Didn't know this was a thing to avoid, but then again I don't follow any of the other food restrictions either so.
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@Maysprout: yeah i see you point. My caution for herbs comes from the fact that most reputable sights such as american pregnancy have cautionary statements about most herbs and mention that there is insufficent science on a lot of them ( not for culinary purposes though)
Yeah I've heard the vitamin C thing. I think i heard its related to overdoses of synthetic vitamin C in supplements -
@Mrsbells: it's just back in the day vit C was touted as a cancer cure and to take mega doses and so it was studied a bit back in the 70s. There's like one hamster study on regular high doses of vit c that shows increased miscarriages but I think that others found nothing. But it got spread around as a way to trigger an abortion.
As for herbs those websites are similarly just warning off of high dose herbal supplements that are touted as medicines bc they haven't been studied in high doses as medicines for either safety or effectiveness. There's a few that the American pregnancy website specifically warns against but basil isn't on that list.
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33 comments