If you immediately think of danger when you hear of a pregnant women eating raw liver; you’re not alone! One of the first questions everyone asked me when I told them I was pregnant is if I was taking a prenatal vitamin. As soon as I told my mom that I was eating Raw Liver instead of a prenatal she immediately jumped on Google and informed me that I should probably stop because of “birth defects from vitamin A toxicity”
Is it Safe to Eat Raw Liver?
There is the warning that every Obstetrician gives their patient about undercooked/raw foods and food borne illness. I’m very much a believer that this should not be a huge concern if you are sourcing your food from a reputable farmer.
Even though I knew the eating my Grass Fed Waygu liver from a local farmer was one of the best things that I could do for my growing baby, everyone I told thought I was nuts! I questioned my decision constantly. In general, following an animal based diet, I wondered, “is this safe?” or “am I harming my baby?” Concerns you may have about adding this nutritious powerhouse to your diet before and after conception. Beef liver is something that pregnant women should be encouraged to eat!
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links while at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.
Don’t Just Take My Word For It
I immediately bought Lily Nichols’ Book Real Food For Pregnancy. I truly believe in animal foods as a necessary part of our health. If you need any validation in that, Lily’s book is so in depth and well researched. She will put every doubt around taboo foods during pregnancy at ease.
Honestly, no matter how good my intentions are, I never end up reading hard copy books. So instead I bought the audiobook version from audible so I could listen in the car on the way to work. If you sign up for the free trial with audible, you can download her book for free.
Why Prenatal Vitamins Aren’t Enough
Now first I would like to disclaim that I did add several vitamins and minerals individually to my prenatal regimen, however I did not take a complete ”prenatal vitamin”. My first reasoning for this was that prenatals don’t always have the complete amount that you need. I also wanted to have control over the amounts of each vitamin or mineral I was taking. Some only have a fraction of the minimum value for a developing fetus. Prenatal vitamins marketed as one a day can’t possibly hold the volume of all the vitamins and minerals that you would need. Some of the better brands of prenatal vitamins that I found were upwards of 8 capsules a day.
Synthetic vitamins are not only less bioavailable than vitamins found in food, they may even be harmful. After being scared into taking a multi-vitamin at 8 weeks pregnant, I pretty much quit taking them after a week or so. I started having crazy symptoms, breakouts, and nausea.
Folic Acid is Not Natural
What’s more is that even if you are taking enough of the daily recommended value in these vitamins, they are obviously not as bioavailable as real food. Folic acid is the synthetic version of folate found in real foods. Folic Acid is recommended by Western Medicine and found in many prenatal vitamins. The same governing agencies that say grains should be the better portion of your diet are also promoting folic acid. Even the CDC says that folic acid is the only form of folate that prevents neural tube defects.
How is this possible when the peer-reviewed studies prove otherwise?
Folic Acid can’t be converted by almost 60% of the female population thanks to the MTHFR gene mutation. When folate levels can’t be reached with food alone it’s recommended that you take a folate supplements instead of folic acid. Specifically you’re looking for L-Methylfolate such as this one.
This is just one example of a vitamin that isn’t the same in your run of the mill prenatal vitamin.
Retinol Is Necessary
Studies that examine birth defects from vitamin a toxicity are looking at synthetic forms of vitamin a in the form of supplementation. The amounts of vitamin A used in the studies far exceed 25,000 IU. One example of this is Accutane. Many prenatal vitamins contain up to 10,000 IU vitamin A. Because of this, I didn’t feel comfortable taking a prenatal while also trying to receive all the benefits of raw beef liver.
Although Vitamin A toxicity is widely brought up around pregnancy, it is actually equally as worrisome for pregnant women to be deficient in vitamin A. Getting this source of retinol in a natural form takes the guesswork out of whether or not you’re getting too much or too little.
Overall, I feel it is safer to supplement with real food rather than take a pill. It isn’t always as convenient, though. I also used desiccated liver capsules when I didn’t have time to prepare my liver in the morning. With that being said, I did choose to supplement with a few individual vitamins and minerals that I thought were important while I had food aversions and couldn’t eat enough to get them from food alone.
How Much Raw Liver Should You Eat While Pregnant?
I ate the equivalent of .5-1 oz per day or a half pound every week or two. I was already doing this before I found out I was pregnant, but continued through the first few weeks as well instead of taking a prenatal. Eventually I added a several vitamins along with the liver. By this point though, most birth defects have already presented.
I have a post with a more in depth outline of all the supplements I took during my pregnancy here. There are several vitamins and minerals that I found to be absolutely necessary.
In case it is important to know: I ended up giving birth, naturally, to a beautiful and healthy baby boy! I hope to share my birth story in a new post soon! You can also join my newsletter to stay in the loop about new posts.
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links while at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.
