Top Tips on Eggs for Pregnant Women

Top Tips on Eggs for Pregnant Women


British Lion eggs has teamed up with Annabel Karmel MBE, mum of three and the UK's best-selling author on baby and children's food and nutrition, and Dr Carrie Ruxton, dietitian and mum of two, to help dispel some of the myths surrounding eggs, and to highlight the many nutritional benefits they can offer pregnant women and growing children.

Annabel is an expert in devising tasty and nutritious meals for children without the need for parents to spend hours in the kitchen, and eggs are a perfect ingredient which can form the basis of many healthy meals.

Carrie is an award-winning dietitian who has published widely in academic journals and has held senior posts in the NHS and at the Nutrition Society, she is passionate about helping mums feed their families healthy food without a fuss. 

Dr Carrie Ruxton, dietitian, gives her key advice on eggs and their nutritional benefits... 

1. Eggs are an excellent food for pregnant women as they contain many important nutrients; vitamin D, folate, iodine, selenium, choline, long chain n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and of course they are an excellent source of good quality protein.
2. Some women are concerned about gaining too much weight during their pregnancy - cutting down on foods high in fat and calories and switching to lower fat, high protein foods such as eggs can help manage your weight in a healthy way.
3. Pregnant women and mothers should look for the British Lion mark when buying eggs as they are 1223_image1.jpgamongst the safest in Europe. Eggs should be kept in the fridge, best before dates should be observed and hands should be washed before and after handling eggs. 
4. Egg allergy affects around 0.5-2.5% of infants, although most children 'outgrow' the allergy before school age. To minimise the risk of allergy, the ideal time for introducing eggs is 6-7 months of age once babies are happily taking solids. Waiting longer to introduce eggs appears to offer no benefit and may even increase the risk of egg allergy.
5. If you can only get your baby to eat a small amount, feeding eggs means they can benefit from getting a wide range of nutrients in a small portion of food, including vitamin A, vitamin D, phosphorus and long-chain n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Annabel Karmel's top tips for weaning with eggs...

1. One of the benefits of eggs is their versatility. As well as boiling, scrambling and making omelettes; French toast, pancakes and egg fried rice are all egg recipes that small children enjoy and they can help kids to get used to different textures and flavours from a young age.
2. Eggs can be combined easily with vegetables, which all mums are keen to make sure their child is getting enough of. Add diced onion, courgette, sweet pepper and tomato to omelettes or make tasty vegetable fritters with sweetcorn, grated cheese and spring onion. Recipes like these are a great way to use up leftovers and a tasty way 1224_image1.jpgto get your child to enjoy healthy meals.

3. Eggs are a perfect food for growing babies from 6 months. They can be introduced to babies as scrambled eggs or eggy bread, which should be well cooked to break down the proteins and make them more digestible.

4. Mealtimes should be enjoyable and fun, eggs are a food that young children can feed themselves - turning an omelette into fingers, or rolling it up means that toddlers can get more involved with their food from a young age. 
5. Children's food doesn't need to be expensive or take a long time to make, scrambling an egg takes less than five minutes and an egg costs less than 40p. As eggs come conveniently packaged in their own shell, it also means you can cook small portions with little waste.
For more information please call the British Egg Information Service on 020 7052 8899

Annabel Karmel MBE

Mother of three Annabel Karmel continues to reign as the UK's No.1 children's cookery author, best-selling international author, and a leading expert on devising delicious, nutritious meals for babies, children and families.

Since launching with The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner 25 years ago â a book which has become the 2nd best-selling non-fiction hardback of all time - Annabel has written 43 books selling over four million copies worldwide.

Coupled with a vast digital following, recipe apps, cookbook-inspired supermarket food ranges and menus in some of the world's top leisure resorts and hotels, Annabel has become a leading pillar for parents who want to give their growing family the very best start in life. Because of this she was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for her outstanding work in the field of child nutrition in 2006.

Whilst remaining a regular media commentator on children's food issues, Annabel is recognised as one of the UK's leading female entrepreneurs, becoming an inspirational role model for other rising stars, business start-ups, women in business and parents returning to work.

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