Why do pregnant women have a strong taste?

Generally, we recommend that pregnant women try to choose light foods in their diet, which can effectively avoid the problem of getting angry and is more conducive to the development of the baby in the belly. However, we will find that after pregnant women become pregnant, their taste becomes stronger than before, and they even want to eat many things that they did not like to eat before. Is this phenomenon caused by pregnancy? Let’s learn about it together today.

Why do pregnant women have strong tastes?

In the early stages of pregnancy, due to increased secretion of progesterone, a series of changes occur in the digestive system, such as relaxation of gastrointestinal smooth muscles, slower peristalsis, reduced secretion of digestive juices and digestive enzymes, insufficient gastric acid, and poor gastric activity and digestive ability. At this time, pregnant women often feel tasteless in their mouths, and strong-tasting foods can stimulate the appetite. Pregnant women usually prefer sour food. This is because changes in the digestive system cause insufficient stomach acid in the body, causing pregnant women to reflexively want to eat sour food. This is a compensatory natural reaction. Some pregnant women particularly like to eat salty or spicy food after pregnancy, as these two flavors can easily stimulate their appetite. However, strong flavors such as sour, spicy, and salty are fine to eat occasionally, but they can pose health risks if consumed in excess.

Salty

As we all know, salty taste is brought to us by table salt, the main component of which is sodium chloride. The sodium element is an indispensable chemical element in our body. It is widely distributed in our body. It can not only regulate the water content in the body, but also enhance the excitability of nerves and muscles, maintain acid-base balance and normal blood pressure.

Eating too salty food will inevitably make you thirsty, so pregnant women will drink a lot of water. Estrogen promotes the retention of water and salt in the body. If too much water and salt accumulate, it will exceed the excretion capacity of the kidneys. In addition, the enlarged uterus compresses the veins of the lower limbs, obstructing blood return, which leads to lower limb edema.

Severe edema in pregnant women is also harmful to the fetus and the pregnant woman herself. Due to the decrease in blood circulation, the blood supply to the fetus will decrease, resulting in fetal intrauterine hypoxia and affecting fetal growth and development.

Scientific tips for eating salty food

How to control salt intake in life? Here are some tips to help you.

1. When cooking, add salt when the dish is almost cooked. This way the salt adheres to the surface of the food and does not have time to penetrate, and the taste is just right.

2. Choose low-sodium salt and consciously reduce salt intake.

3. In order to satisfy the taste, you can add a little vinegar, chili, onion, garlic, ginger, or coriander, mushrooms and other vegetables with special smells when cooking. This will enhance the fresh and fragrant taste and easily reduce the amount of salt added.

4. Reduce or refuse pickles and preserved foods. The human body's daily salt intake should not exceed 6 grams. These pickled vegetables and pickled vegetables contain a lot of salt, and eating them once can almost reach the daily salt intake.

Strong flavors will make your taste buds become increasingly dull, and it is easy to fall into a vicious cycle of eating more and more salty food. Therefore, a light diet is healthy for both children and adults.