Can I eat preserved eggs when I am pregnant?

Preserved eggs are a common snack with certain nutritional value. There is nothing wrong with eating some of them normally, but pregnant women should try not to eat them because preserved eggs will absorb some heavy metals during the production process. If pregnant women eat preserved eggs at this time, these heavy metals may cause adverse effects on the health of the fetus and may even cause fetal abnormalities, miscarriage and other adverse conditions.

Can pregnant women eat preserved eggs?

1. Because preserved eggs are pickled by wrapping duck eggs in a mixture of pure alkali, lime, salt and lead oxide, which contains lead, if consumed frequently, there is a chance of causing lead poisoning. This can lead to symptoms such as insomnia, inability to concentrate, anemia, joint pain, slow thinking, and affected brain function. In addition, lead will replace calcium, affecting calcium intake and possibly causing calcium deficiency.

2. Preserved eggs contain too much lead. In order to promote protein coagulation, traditional preserved eggs add some heavy metals such as lead oxide or copper during the pickling process. If consumed for a long time, the lead or copper in them will accumulate chronically and be detrimental to health. If pregnant women eat preserved eggs during pregnancy, the impact will be greater.

3. If the lead contained in preserved eggs penetrates the brain, it will directly inhibit the secretion of growth hormone, causing children to be short, precocious puberty, obesity, etc. For the health of your baby, it is best not to eat preserved eggs during pregnancy.

4. After being pickled, the various nutrients in preserved eggs also undergo certain changes. In terms of protein content, fresh eggs contain 8.7 grams per 100 grams, while preserved eggs contain 13.1 grams, an increase of 4.4 grams; in terms of carbohydrate content, fresh duck eggs contain 9.8 grams per 100 grams, while preserved eggs contain 10.7 grams, an increase of 0.9 grams; the carbohydrate content decreased significantly, from 10.3 grams per 100 grams of fresh duck eggs to 2.2 grams, a decrease of 8.1 grams; in terms of vitamin content, vitamin A decreased from 1380 international units of fresh duck eggs to 940 international units, a decrease of 440 international units. Therefore, the nutritional value has also declined.

Can pregnant women eat lead-free preserved eggs?

1. Lead oxide is added to the traditional processing formula of preserved eggs in my country. The peeled preserved eggs (yellow lead powder) are banned in some countries because lead is a toxic heavy metal element, which affects the sales of my country's exported preserved eggs. To this end, relevant scientific research departments have studied substitutes for lead oxide, among which EDTA and FWD have better effects.

2. When using EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), the formula of other auxiliary materials and processing technology remain unchanged. Just remove the lead oxide and then replace it with EDTA. Generally, the amount used to process 1,000 duck eggs is 0.12 to 0.13 kilograms. FWD is a substance synthesized from trace elements such as magnesium and manganese. Its usage is to dissolve 0.5 kg of FWD in 75 kg of cold boiled water and soak 1,500 duck eggs. The other auxiliary material formulas and processing methods are the same as when using lead oxide.

3. Although the process of pickling preserved eggs has been improved, lead-free preserved eggs are now available. In fact, lead-free preserved eggs do not contain no lead at all, but the lead content is much lower than that of traditional pickled preserved eggs. According to national regulations, the lead content in every 1,000 grams of preserved eggs must not exceed 3 mg. Preserved eggs that meet this standard are also called lead-free preserved eggs.

4. Therefore, lead-free preserved eggs do not mean that they do not contain lead, but that the lead content is lower than the national standard. It can be seen from this that eating preserved eggs is not good for both pregnant women and the fetus. Even under normal circumstances, it is best to add vinegar, ginger, garlic and other condiments when eating preserved eggs. This can remove the alkaline taste of the preserved eggs and also have a sterilizing and disinfecting effect.