Inability to eat red foods in pregnancy

[Bebi]

This may seem a bit odd, so bear with me lol I'm not even sure where to put this

When I was pregnant with my son (my first) anything I ate that was red would make me throw up. It stopped as soon as he was born (1997). I thought nothing of it until a week ago when a friend and I were discussing our pregnancies and I mentioned it. One of her friends had the same thing, and she said it's actually quite common, which kind of shocked me as I'd spent nearly 11 years thinking I was the only one.

Has anyone had this happen to them, or know someone it happened to? It's got me curious now...

[trickyhomunculi]

I was craving Big Red like crazy while I was pregnant , couldnt eat chinese food for some reason though.

[Saint]

Cravings and being put off odd foods whatever they may be are reportedly VERY common in pregnancy. I had nothing like that but that's just me.

[trickyhomunculi]

Cravings and being put off odd foods whatever they may be are reportedly VERY common in pregnancy.

Yes I think most are aware of that

[Opus Magnus]

Maybe it was a certain red dye that was in the foods? Some people I know can't drink soda pops with certain dyes in them because it makes them have indigestion.

[coldethyl]

Uh, everytime I got hot when I was preggers with my son, I threw up. Now he's 16 and when he gets hot, he throws up. My daughter is 14 and I didn't do it when I was preggers with her and she doesn't do it.

Cool, but not really relevant, I'm aware.

[Dagaz]

I would think it's fairly normal. My daugther had a little girl just 4 months ago and during the whole pregnancy she couldn't eat any meat, not even chicken. She didn't get sick from it, but it sort of went right through her (long and frequent sitting sessions, you get my drift).

[Purplos]

Couldn't eat anything red at all? Red drink, red grapes, jelly, what? Just the color? Or the dye lot?

When I was incubating my first, I couldn't eat anything period. I lost 30 pounds.

[Opus Magnus]

I'm glad I'm a guy. Unless aliens or mad scientists find a way to impregnate males....

[Bebi]

Couldn't eat anything red at all? Red drink, red grapes, jelly, what? Just the color? Or the dye lot?

When I was incubating my first, I couldn't eat anything period. I lost 30 pounds.

Nope nothing red at all. It ranged from cherry squash (concentrate) from the vending machine at work (when I first realised I had a problem) right through everything - even fresh tomatoes. I'd often not realise and once I'd spent all evening/night being ill my husband would mention that whatever he'd cooked for me had tomato puree in it. This was separate from morning sickness, I was about 5 months into the pregnancy when it started. I'd had bad morning sickness, but it had been settled for a month beforehand. I asked my current doc at the time and she just gave me a blank look and said "avoid anything red then" lol the only other thing was a craving for R Whites lemonade poured over a glass of ice cubes in Dec/Jan when I was about 6 months along. Least it wasn't coal or pickles and ice cream...

Thanks for all the replies, I really wasn't expecting anything

Edited January 19, 2007 by Bebi

[IamsSon]

My wife could not stand the sight or smell of eggs cooking when she was pregnant with our son... it was a long 9 months.

[MUM24/7]

Nope nothing red at all. It ranged from cherry squash (concentrate) from the vending machine at work (when I first realised I had a problem) right through everything - even fresh tomatoes. I'd often not realise and once I'd spent all evening/night being ill my husband would mention that whatever he'd cooked for me had tomato puree in it. This was separate from morning sickness, I was about 5 months into the pregnancy when it started. I'd had bad morning sickness, but it had been settled for a month beforehand. I asked my current doc at the time and she just gave me a blank look and said "avoid anything red then" lol the only other thing was a craving for R Whites lemonade poured over a glass of ice cubes in Dec/Jan when I was about 6 months along. Least it wasn't coal or pickles and ice cream...

Thanks for all the replies, I really wasn't expecting anything

What about red meat(cooked of course) ? Geez it must have been difficult to go through the whole pregnancy avoiding red food ? Never heard of that before !!

I'm pregnant with my fifth and the thing that I can't stand is not eating....I'm always munching on something......Oh, actually the sight of blue coloured soft drink I can't stand let alone drinking it .....Yuk !

[Celumnaz]

my wife can't cook or eat meat, she says it gives her "osco"... whatever that means... she makes a sick looking face when she says it. This is new with the pregnancy as she's usually right there with me on the eating of the meats.

I was scared of having a girl, but now if she comes out a vegitarian I'm going to be so lost... pink tofu ugh, not eating it even if she says please

[tcgram]

I believe you had problems with red dye in certain foods. However, that doesn't explain the problems with tomatoes, etc. I couldn't stand the smell of ANYTHING w/peanut butter with my first pregnancy. With my second, I couldn't stand to smell certain kinds of beef cooking. That was quite unusual, since I am not a vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination. Pregnancy hormones are quite strange; they can make you have problems with most anything.

[greggK]

This may seem a bit odd, so bear with me lol I'm not even sure where to put this

When I was pregnant with my son (my first) anything I ate that was red would make me throw up. It stopped as soon as he was born (1997). I thought nothing of it until a week ago when a friend and I were discussing our pregnancies and I mentioned it. One of her friends had the same thing, and she said it's actually quite common, which kind of shocked me as I'd spent nearly 11 years thinking I was the only one.

Has anyone had this happen to them, or know someone it happened to? It's got me curious now...

Red Dye #5, Red Lake #2, bla, bla, bla, on down the line to any unnatural red coloring in food. Lobster meat is not red and so many packaged foods have red coloring. But, red may be a combination of Blue Dye #5 and Yellow Dye #6 and Monosodium Glutamate. Poison stuff that is. Nothing that would kill you in any amount of time, but on down the line after you have eaten Red Dye for say 20 years, that has built up in your system. And your body does not get rid of it. In pregnancy, your body is secreting different stuff than if you weren't pregnant. And that reacts with the red dye, so that should be a sign that all red food coloring should be banned, right? Well, that along with all of the rest of the fake food.

You got a problem with tomatoes too?

The only thing that I can think of there is lycopene. That gives the tomatoe the red coloring, but since maybe that made you sick too, that may be the 'red' color.

Edited January 22, 2007 by greggK

[Raptor]

Nope nothing red at all. It ranged from cherry squash (concentrate) from the vending machine at work (when I first realised I had a problem) right through everything - even fresh tomatoes. I'd often not realise and once I'd spent all evening/night being ill my husband would mention that whatever he'd cooked for me had tomato puree in it. This was separate from morning sickness, I was about 5 months into the pregnancy when it started. I'd had bad morning sickness, but it had been settled for a month beforehand. I asked my current doc at the time and she just gave me a blank look and said "avoid anything red then" lol the only other thing was a craving for R Whites lemonade poured over a glass of ice cubes in Dec/Jan when I was about 6 months along. Least it wasn't coal or pickles and ice cream...

Thanks for all the replies, I really wasn't expecting anything

So you're talking about red fruits?

In that case it sounds like an intolerance to the carotenoids (in this case, Lycopene) as greggK said.

Although saying that, I don't see any reason why Lycopene itself should have any ill effects. It doesn't really make any sense. I don't think it's the fact that the food was red that it made you feel sick, I think that the group of fruits containing Lycopene also have another chemical in common, and it's that chemical that you have the intolerance to.

I couldn't tell you what that chemical is, although if you really wanted to find out, a doctor or even a botanist should know.

[greggK]

Well, Bebi, I hope everything is going well for you and the newborn!

[Bebi]

Luckily this red thing finished once I'd given birth to my son, and my second pregnancy was very mundane with no real food cravings/problems. I'm more curious than concerned. Thanks again for the information, I like to try to understand why my body does what it does and the carotenoid/lycopene explanation sounds very plausible.

My youngest was born in 1998 - although... No I'll wait til I'm sure

[Saint]

Yes I think most are aware of that

that being the case then, why would an aversion to red food particularly draw anyone's attention?

[battleangel]

my wife can't cook or eat meat, she says it gives her "osco"... whatever that means... she makes a sick looking face when she says it. This is new with the pregnancy as she's usually right there with me on the eating of the meats.

I was scared of having a girl, but now if she comes out a vegitarian I'm going to be so lost... pink tofu ugh, not eating it even if she says please

Uh oh...I couldn't eat meat at all while I was pregnant with my daughter. It smelled gross, looked gross, tasted gross and made me so sick. Just thinking about meat while pregnant with her makes me feel queasy, lol. Here's the uh oh part...my daughter ended up being a natural vegetarian. We get her to eat a small amount of chicken or beef about once a week. The rest of the time, it's non-stop peanut butter sandwiches...

Back to the topic of red food adversion : iirc, plant based foods with red colors tend to be more acidic than those that are different shades. I'd be curious to see if a green or yellow tomato would be tolerated better than a red, lol. I couldn't find out what is used to create the most common red food coloring, red dye #40, but did read that some had allergic reactions to it and that it could cause behavioral problems in children. I tell you what though...reading about food dyes has made me want to toss the kids' Apple Jacks into the garbage...LOL

[NormanLUnderwood2010]

What kind of food you eat? what kind of red is that? any kind?

Hmm i will let you know if i meet some just like what you feel..

Dont worry..

[Bree.mestas]

On 1/17/2007 at 10:39 PM, Bebi said:

This may seem a bit odd, so bear with me lol I'm not even sure where to put this

When I was pregnant with my son (my first) anything I ate that was red would make me throw up. It stopped as soon as he was born (1997). I thought nothing of it until a week ago when a friend and I were discussing our pregnancies and I mentioned it. One of her friends had the same thing, and she said it's actually quite common, which kind of shocked me as I'd spent nearly 11 years thinking I was the only one.

Has anyone had this happen to them, or know someone it happened to? It's got me curious now...

 

[Bree.mestas]

I am 28 weeks pregnant and its a baby boy (: Well i actually googled red food and drink coloring making you sick when pregnant because it has me mind blow tht everytime i drink or eat things that are red or pink i throw it back up within the next 10-15 mins . For instance vitamin water dragonfruit flavor, fanta strawberry, those really soft pink with sprinkle cookies, i dont like puking so i stay away from tht dye #2 and #40 i think... U r not alone on this one thoe (: 

[Bree.mestas]

Is your sons overall health good at his age and when born ?... If you dont mind me asking even tho i am going to have to tell my doctor see what his thoughts on this also cant be to safe with your baby ❤

[3uphoria]

Hello @Bebi,

It has been a while since you have posted but I am very curious. Is your boy healthy? Can he eat red food? I am pregnant with my first and I don't know if it'll be a boy or girl yet but I can't eat red food, no red anything doesn't matter if its juice, fruit, veggies, chips, or candy if its red  in color I'll throw up. And I thought I was the only one since no where do they talk about it I even thought it was in my head. Please if anyone or yourself went through it I just want to know your kids are ok.