Low-carb diets a health hazard during pregnancy

Filed under: Health — Tags: pregnancy — luis @ 3:36 pm

The experts at Babyfit.com are warning pregnant women that low-carb diets can be harmful to a healthy pregnancy and baby.

bq. Becky Hand, a prenatal dietitian, explains that low carbohydrate diets are not safe during pregnancy because carbohydrates are needed to combine with fat fragments so that they can be used for energy. Without sufficient carbohydrates, the body cannot use its fat in the normal way and there is an incomplete breakdown of fat. This produces a by-product called ketones. When ketones accumulate in the blood and urine it causes ketosis–a condition that can cause brain damage and irreversible mental retardation in the infant.