Can You Eat Cheese While Pregnant?

Some pregnant women hear that they shouldn’t be eating cheese during their pregnancy as it can cause a risk. The reality is that most of the time, it is completely fine to eat cheese even if you are pregnant, but you do need to be aware of some things to make sure that you stay safe. If you are cautious, neither you nor your baby will be at risk and you can use cheese as one of your sources of calcium. Here are the important things to keep in mind.

Concerns

The reason that some experts caution against eating cheese during pregnancy is that all cheese contains bacteria and while most cheeses have negligible amounts or only healthy bacteria, some other types will contain a certain one known as listeria. Listeria could make you have flu-like symptoms and potentially harm your baby, but the good news is that it is incredibly rare so your chances of getting it are slim. Despite this, it is best to avoid eating soft, mold-ripened cheeses while you are pregnant.

Cook Thoroughly

Although you should do your best to avoid eating soft, mold-ripened cheeses or blue-veined cheeses (which have an even lower risk of leading to listeria than the already low risk associated with the former cheese), you can eat either of these types if you cook them first. That is because it will kill the bacteria, but if you do this, make sure to completely cook the cheese instead of simply melting it.

Completely Safe Cheeses

If you are a cheese lover like most people, the good news is that soft, mold-ripened cheeses and blue-veined cheeses are the only types that you have to be worried about. Hard cheeses are safe even if they were made using unpasteurized milk. This means that you never have to worry about eating cheeses such as cheddar, Gouda, provolone, parmesan and other hard cheeses. You could also have any soft cheese that is pasteurized and made using pasteurized milk.

Mozzarella

One cheese that some women are concerned about because it is hard to fit into one of the above categories
is mozzarella but the good news is that you can have it in moderation during pregnancy without any worries. Even better, eating mozzarella can help increase your consumption of protein as well as calcium which will promote the healthy development of your baby. In fact, this is true of any other of the safe cheeses, such as cheddar, as well.