Sun-dried tomatoes in pregnancy: yes or no?

Sun-dried tomatoes in pregnancy: yes or no?

Sun-dried tomatoes in pregnancy, yes or no? Sooner or later the question occurs to almost every mother-to-be. Pregnancy is a period of great joy, but also of many worries, and food is one of the subjects that raises the most doubts. What can you eat, and what should you leave alone? Can you eat sun-dried tomatoes, for example — the ones Puglia lays out on trays in the summer sun and then keeps under oil? Let us answer straight away.

A word about tomatoes

Tomatoes are everywhere in the Mediterranean diet. They are excellent cooked or raw, and they are also particularly good for you. We Italians love to eat “in rosso” — in red, with tomato — and we put it on the table several times a week. That turns out to be a virtuous habit: tomatoes are rich in a powerful antioxidant called lycopene. Like all antioxidants, lycopene helps protect us from cell ageing and from the conditions linked to oxidative stress. The tomato is also a good source of minerals and vitamins, so in pregnancy it is more than allowed.

And something not everyone knows: lycopene is released more readily when tomatoes are cooked. Leafy vegetables lose nutrients when they are boiled in water; the tomato does the opposite, and gives up even more lycopene as it cooks — one more reason to love a slow tomato sauce. Before we come to sun-dried tomatoes, a word on food hygiene.

A word on food hygiene

This applies to far more than tomatoes. If you eat raw tomatoes or other uncooked vegetables — salad, peppers and so on — always wash them very thoroughly. It matters most if you have tested negative for toxoplasmosis, that is, if you are not immune to it, but not only then: a few unwelcome bacteria could be a problem for the baby you are carrying.

And sun-dried tomatoes?

Sun-dried tomatoes are not, as such, a risk for mother or baby. They are tomatoes with the water taken out, and they carry the same nutrients that make fresh tomatoes a good habit at the table. Pregnancy does not oblige you to give them up.

This article is general information and does not replace medical advice. For more on how tomatoes behave in the kitchen, read why home-made passata turns watery.