When you're pregnant there are so many rules to keep track of. You have to remember what's safe to do, which trimester to start doing or stop doing things, it's a total headache. Luckily doctors are always working to learn more and make things clearer for parents who are expecting.
A new study performed on animals at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine has shed some light on one of those old chestnuts that every parent-to-be learns, and it's a big change from what we used to think.
While doctors used to say it was okay to eat soft cheese in the first trimester, they're now saying pregnant women should totally avoid this food.
The risk with eating soft cheese - and a handful of other food like smoked salmon and cooked deli meats - while you're pregnant is you may contract listeria, a type of food poisoning that's common in these foods.
Listeria's symptoms are normally very mild, and pretty close to a regular flu bug. You might feel achy, chilly, tired, and have diarrhea. But listeria can also attack the cells in your placenta, causing a miscarriage.
Scientists have been able to reliably prove these effects using monkeys, and because of this new evidence they're warning pregnant women to cut listeria-prone foods out of their diet as soon as they find out they're pregnant.
