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[jdmessner]

My son was making chicken wings for the Super Bowl. He said his girlfriend couldn't eat them because she is pregnant. She is due on St. Patrick's Day and smoked foods was one of the things she was told to stay away from. I've never heard of such a thing. I looked it up and I guess there are some studies that suggest smoked foods could stunt growth in the third trimester. Who knew?

[Kristin Meredith]

How much would a pregnant woman have to eat for that to happen?

[Th3Batman86]

That sounded like nonsense so I did a quick search. The only thing I could find was this excerpt. As you can see, they don't cite any sources and it is all an voluntary response survey (if you look at statistics voluntary response surveys are almost garbage data).

"When you eat barbecued meat, you put your baby at risk for being small for his gestational age. A study published in 2012 in the journal “Nutrition” asked 432 pregnant women about their eating habits throughout each trimester of pregnancy, including smoked meat consumption. Women who ate barbecued meat in their last trimester had babies with a lower weight, shorter length and smaller head circumference even though the duration of their pregnancies were the same as those not eating smoked meat."

found at this site https://www.hellomotherhood.com/article/365123-can-a-pregnant-woman-eat-smoked-meats/

Other sites mentioned smoked fish but they were mostly mentioned cold smoked fish not killing off certain bacteria so to make sure all smoked fish is hot smoked. I couldn't find any reputable source that said no smoked meats during pregnancy.

[Th3Batman86]

Scratch that, I found the study. Looks like a 2012 study but still appears to be voluntary response. I will put some of the abstract below. Bently I hope that is ok.

"The birth cohort consisted of 432 pregnant women who gave birth at term (>36 weeks of gestation). Only non-smoking women with singleton pregnancies, 18-35 years of age, and who were free from chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension were included in the study. Detailed information on diet over pregnancy was collected through interviews and the measurement of exposure to airborne PAHs was carried out by personal air monitoring during the second trimester of pregnancy. The effect of barbecued meat consumption on birth outcomes (birthweight, length and head circumference at birth) was adjusted in multiple linear regression models for potential confounding factors such as prenatal exposure to airborne PAHs, child’s sex, gestational age, parity, size of mother (maternal prepregnancy weight, weight gain in pregnancy) and prenatal environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)."

Reading into it a little further. It looks like the births were from 2001 to 2004 and were only in Krakow, Poland. The women were just given lifestyle questionnaires upon enrollment into the study and then again in the third trimester. I don't consider that reliable data. They were not asked to keep any daily log nor did they have regular check-ins with the study group. Also, they were given a device to measure air pollution (to try and separate airborne PAH from food based) but they only had to keep it with them for one 48 hour period during the test. And once again, this was on the honor system.

Here is a link to the study. After reading it, I am not convinced. The study doesn't seem to focus on any hereditary or genetic history of the parents or any other environmental or lifestyle factors.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3288524/#!po=11.5385

[okie smokie]

 Fake news! From the anti-barbecue media. Right now they are meeting in DC to decide whether they will allow BBQ to be served after 2024. They don't know why they hate it so much, but they were told by big brother to do so.  Since BBQ is soul food for a large ethnic group of Americans, I think the anti bbq lobby is racist don't you?
Sorry, I could not resist. Lotsa nonsense out there. Hard to sift it all out. Meanwhile since I am not pregnant (yet) I am having pulled pork for lunch.

[jdmessner]

Thank You! I think the comments I saw were based on that same study. My conclusion was the same as yours. I am glad I am not alone in my thinking!!

[02ebz06]

Well, there are carcinogens in the smoke that aren't good for any of us.
Doesn't stop us from eating BBQ though. 

[Bar-B-Lew]

Well, there are carcinogens in the smoke that aren't good for any of us.
Doesn't stop us from eating BBQ though. 

Also, more carcinogens if the food is charred.  So, I don't know if the study means BBQ with a char or low and slow without a char.  Another one of those pieces of information that is not very clear and leaves a lot to be interpreted different from person to person.