Is black pudding safe to eat when pregnant?
Does the iron content in black pudding make it a healthy food during pregnancy, or should it be avoided?
In a nutshell
Yes, black pudding is safe.
The expert view
Traditional UK black pudding is a cooked sausage made from pork fat, cereal or oatmeal, seasonings and blood, usually from pigs. People often confuse it with pate or liver sausage, but it's not the same.
The NHS advises it is fine to eat black pudding, as long as it has been heated thoroughly all the way through, stored in the fridge and eaten before its use-by date.
In fact, some pregnant women swear by the stuff as a way to increase their iron intake, and nutritionist Dr Rana Conway agrees: "Black pudding is very rich in iron, which is important in pregnancy to help avoid anaemia and produce healthy red blood cells."
The downside is that it can be high in fat, especially saturated fat – which isn’t great news for an already expanding waistline.
"If you're shopping for black pudding choose a brand that's low in fat - if you look at the amount of fat per 100g you'll see some contain 14g whereas others contain less than 3g," points our Dr Conway. "This is quite a big difference and the only way of knowing what you're getting is by reading the small print."
Mums on our forum say
"I heart black pudding and ask for everyone's portions from their fry ups!" Bellemumdrum
But other mums on our forum commented that the amount of salt and fat in it can't really help baby!
Read more about pregnancy food safety:
Can I have a runny egg now I'm pregnant?
Authors
Magda Ibrahim is a freelance writer who has written for publications including The Times and Sunday Times, The Sun, Time Out, and the London Evening Standard, as well for MadeForMums.
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