I've seen this, and many similar articles around the web. The thing is .. most of these articles (at least, the ones which provide references ) refer to studies of ruminant herbivores (ewes, cows) or pregnant humans with some underlying pathology such as diabetes or starvation/fasting. Neither situation is at all similar to the maternal or fetal metabolism during benign dietary ketosis, where caloric intake is adequate, and blood sugar and insulin are stable.

There was an article written by a nurse who worked at the Atkins Center, who ate "maintenance level" carbs of 80g per day during her pregnancy. She delivered healthy full-term twins . Unfortunately, the atkins.com website has been revamped, so I can't find that article or provide a link .


Doreen

I had 3 ultra low carb pregnancies. For the last 5 months I ate only meat and fat and a few bites of veggies when I felt like I could hold them. Something about the way I carry--I couldn't eat more than a few bites of food at a time. (I always wondered if this was how a person who's had gastric bypass feels, after hearing my SIL's descriptions of how she feels after eating a few bites.) I decided that the 2 most important macronutrients for a growing baby were protein and fat. My OB's were completely fine with it, and never said a word when my urine showed ketones (very normal in pregnancy). Never said a word when my weight stayed the same, but uterus got bigger and bigger. I think any progressive OB not living in the dark ages would be OK with low-carb. No GD, no excessive weight gain for me. No heartburn, no swelling, no pregnancy-induced HTN. Oh, and fairly easy NON-MEDICATED deliveries, although I'll never know if that was related to LC or not.

My babies were all born full-term, healthy weight, beautiful skin. They are still very healthy. No allergies, asthma, or any illnesses or problems. All met/are meeting milestones at appropriate times. All are intelligent.

If I had it to do over again, I would do the exact same thing, with one exception...I'd not have fallen off the wagon AFTER each baby and gain 30 pounds after the last 2.

Ketosis is a fairly normal state in pregnancy, and you have to really overeat carbs to avoid it.

It's the same hype about ketosis being harmful for adults. Ketones are a legitimate fuel source for fetuses, babies, children and adults. As in adults, the situtation of ketoacidosis (ketones in the presence of abnormally high blood sugars is the condition that would be harmful to the baby, as well as mom. Those same cultures that live on primarily meat and fat also successfully procreate.

My bottom line was that if the diet is safe, then it is SAFE. Period. Pregnant or not.

As others in this thread have pointed out, what is the research for that? Was this in humans? Was this in a state of ketoACIDOSIS or natural ketosis? 2 completely different things.



to continue... "...and aroused "considerable concern" years before Atkins published his first book.165 Atkins nonetheless wrote. "I recommend this diet to all my pregnant patients."166" This was what someone said in a Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs on April 12 1973. It was said as part of a backlash against the Atkins diet to prevent people from going on it and the only reference that can be found is "it is known" ... It is known... like eating saturated fat is unhealthy... like low carbing will cause brain damage... it is known. Well the only references I have ever seen about low carbing and the brain is that ketones enhance mental acuity, raises IQ points, helps prevent Alzheimer's and stops children from having epileptic seizures. I would also be curious to know if these 55,000 women were all in ketosis due to low carbing and following a healthy diet or suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis.



That is 100% misleading!
Here is a list that I compiled back in April for someone who had concerns



Now you will notice that certain nutrients, like vitamin c and biotin are available in large quantities through foods that do have carbohydrates in them (and possibly in lower quantities in foods that do not) there are plenty of foods very rich in vitamin C that are both low in carbs and induction friendly.

There is absolutely nothing that grains or legumes have that we cannot find in abundant quantities in foods that are low in carbs!

Also from a post I made in 04 about a similar topic




As for the rest of the post, it addressed following higher levels of carbs and again, that may sound like a nice and very healthy option, but I have never seen any evidence to prove that a level of carbs low enough to produce ketones can be harmful and from my own research, knowledge of my body, history etc. would feel completely comfortable on lower level carbs while pregnant and in fact would feel more comfortable with that type of diet than one that was lower in fat or higher in grains etc.
There are also studies that I have read (posted in the research section of this forum) about dangers of eating cereals and other high carb grains while pregnant. But of course, it isnt me who is pregnant at the moment and the decision should be something that both you and your doctor are completely comfortable with.

I should also probably mention that I have PCOS as a result of eating diets that are low in fat, high in carbs and low carbing is the only thing that has gotten my hormone levels normal and got me ovulating normally again. A friend of mine who also had this condition began low carbing, lost a significant amount of weight, became pregnant, as per the advice of her physician she switched to a diet of around 120g of carbs a day and ended up with a stillborn. Both her and her physician believe that it was the carb increase (she was maintaining at around 60 a day before she got preggers) and the pcos worsening that caused it. I think that may only apply for people who have pcos though.

I could read 1000 of those kinds of things and it still would not convince me that LC is dangerous for fetuses. These people are trying to play on the emotions of people who don't understand how the body uses fuel. And they don't understand it themselves. It's the same baseless dogma that says fat makes you fat. I don't tent to react to emotional dogma.

If you feel the diet is unsafe for ANYONE, then you shouldn't be following it. A diet is either safe or not safe. It's not safe for some and unsafe for others.

They will never be able to convince me that that was dangerous, not after I had 3 healthy babies. I understand how humans use fuel. I understand that ketones are a legitimate source of fuel for humans--all humans. I understand how ketoacidosis, a condition of disease, is harmful in the presence of uncontrolled blood sugars. Ketosis and ketoacidosis are not interchangeable.

If you're trying to show me that somehow I put my unborn babies in danger by doing LC, you didn't succeed. My understanding of the body, coupled with their lives and their health show me that I did make the right choice.

I think the trick to a proper diet while pregnant is watching closely exactly what you are eating. During my last pregnancy, I was advised to eat at least 100 grams of carbohydrates daily. That, to me, is Atkins Maintenance. But more importantly, look at what carbs Dr. Atkins said to eat at maintenance level - whole grains, a huge variety of fruits and vegetables. Certainly not white flour, sugar, or other overly processed garbage. No responsible doctor would ever recommend eating those things, pregnant or not. I think the problem becomes when pregnant women hear "don't eat low carb" and turn back to old habits of eating processed junk and lots of white flour and sugar. Now sure, I ate soda crackers when nauseated. But I also ate lots more protein during that last pregnancy as compared to my previous two. I also took that "100 gram" recommendation as carte blanche to eat any fruits/veggies I wanted. So yes, I ate potatoes, I ate tomato sauce, I ate tons of yogurt, I ate bananas like they were going out of style. I ended up gaining the same 30-odd pounds as I did the first two times, tested negative for gestational diabetes as before, and delivered my third beautiful, healthy baby boy.

I personally think any responsible OB/GYN should only give two pieces of advice to pregnant women regarding diet:

1) Don't go crazy. Twinkies are always going to be bad for you!
2) It's only nine months. Weight can come off later. Your baby is worth it.

Just my $.02

Just my personal experience:

With my first child, I, too, was afraid of ketosis while pg. I went totally the other direction in my eating. I ate good foods and plenty of them, but I also ate more than my share of high carb crap. I ended up delivering my baby one month early after suffering full fledged Eclampsia, seizures and all, a c-section, and spending 18 days in the hospital. My baby did well, but I was very sick for some time. I ended up returning to lc to lower my blood pressure after this.

A couple years later I became pregnant with my second child and decided to eat a controlled carb diet, with a mixture of reccommedations from Dr. Brewer's Diet (a pre-emclampsia preventative diet). I averaged around 100 g carbs a day and cut back a little on fat to keep the balance. Most of the carbs came from fruits, yogurt, lc veggies, oatmeal, and a very high fiber bread. I shared my diet with my OBGYN and dietist and after showing them printouts from fitday of my menus and nutrients ingested, they were quite pleased with how I ate and did not suggest any changes. I delivered a 9 lb., healthy baby boy on his due date.

Everybody's mileage varies. I just think that fresh veggies, fruit, and yogurt have to have a lot more nutrients that potatoes, rice and fiberless bread.

I think low-carb eating during pregnancy, with lots of protein and vegetables, would be a good thing and might ward off conditions like gestational diabetes and macrosomia. Bigger babies aren't always healthier, and they can complicate the birth process.

Now, ketosis during pregnancy would probably be unwise. So, making sure she gets sufficient carbs from vegetables, low-glycemic fruits, and whole grains would be important.

Avoiding highly processed foods and refined sugars is good for everyone, at every age and stage of life.

Jen

Just in case someone was thinking I was touting bigger babies are healthier babies. I didn't mean that. I should have just said he was healthy. I guess his weight sticks out in my mind, as my daughter was only 6 lbs. Anyway, they both were healthy.

Also, my son wasn't so alarmingly large by Swedish standards.

Lisa,

I'm sorry if you thought I was referring to your situation, I actually haven't even read the whole thread.

The OP said that her doctor strongly advised against a low carb diet, so she only cut down on refined sugar and had two babies with Macrosomia.

Macrosomia refers to "excessive birth weight". It's often caused by gestational diabetes, especially with very large (10+ lb) babies. With larger babies, there's a higher risk of shoulder dystocia, a serious complication where the baby's shoulders get stuck after the head is born.

Jen

I agree that ketosis isn't starvation, but it does generally indicate weight loss and the number one predictor of infant mortality is maternal nutrition. No doubt, many mothers throughout human history *were* in ketosis because they were starving. I strongly question actively loosing weight while pregnant could possibly be good for the fetus.

Jen

No problem, Jen. I posted again just in case others thought I meant that.

I thought it was strange when during my second pregnancy, I would told by my first midwife that I could actively lose weight during the pregnancy. There was no way I wanted to do that. I wanted to gain 30 or less lbs and I ended up gaining 34 lbs. I started losing a pound a week during the last month of the pregnancy even though I was eating very well and my boy was growing like crazy according to the ultrasounds.

Ketosis just means that your body is using ketones as the preferred source of fuel. One can be in ketosis without dropping a pound. One can also certainly get more than adequate nutrition while in ketosis. I don't think this was about losing weight while pregnant or about malnutrition while pregnant but rather will ketones harm the baby.

Humans have been eating the current diet for about 50 years. Before that fewer carbs, certainly tons less sugar. Wheat and grain products have only been around for 3,000-7,000 years and only easily accessible to people the last couple of hundred.

There are still populations of people in the world that eat no products of agriculture whatsoever...

So living on basically meat, fish, veggies and fruit... how'd the human race ever survive? I'd love to hear a nutritionist argue that one.

All this talk about starvation and infant mortality and ketosis and brain damage and irreversible mental retardation makes me want to check and make sure my children are OK.....be right back.....

.....Ok, I'm back. THEY'RE ALIVE AND WELL!

Whew! What a relief. I thought maybe I had dreamed it all....uneventful AMA pregnancies, easy deliveries, healthy happy babies, healthy thriving children.

Imagine that.


(AMA=advanced maternal age or 35+ years of age)