Eating Liver During Pregnancy – Is it Safe?

Liver is typically considered to be a very healthy food. It and other organ meats are actually eaten pretty commonly around the world. This is because liver has a pretty significant nutrition profile along with some rather spectacular health benefits. But as healthy as eating liver can be for most people, it is not typically safe for pregnant women to consume.

Keep reading to find out why eating liver is not good for expecting mothers.

What is in a liver?

Your basic liver has a full course of vitamins, minerals, and protein such as, vitamin B12, vitamin A, folate, vitamin B2, vitamin B5, vitamin B3, vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin B1, and vitamin E. It also has selenium, iron, phosphorous, zinc, copper, manganese, potassium, magnesium, sodium, and calcium.

The biggest concern for pregnant women when including liver in their diet is that liver is an extremely nutrient dense meat. All of the vitamins and minerals it possesses, it has in spades. Liver’s vitamin A content specifically is something expecting mothers will have to be wary of. The average serving of liver has 267% of the recommended daily liver intake.

If you consume too much liver too fast, you can overdose on vitamin A. It might not seem like you can have too much of a good thing, but if you consume too much vitamin A, it will result in hypervitaminosis A and you will develop a vitamin A toxicity.  This condition can have some pretty damaging symptoms that you absolutely do not want to experience while pregnant. They range from the mild cases, such as itchy skin, rashes, and headaches – and the severe – liver damage, coma, and death).

Overall, eating liver isn’t bad for pregnant women. It just has to be eaten in moderation. You shouldn’t eat liver more than twice a week, especially if you are taking vitamin supplements.