Therefore, if on the one hand the clams contain many properties useful for health (including the pregnant mother and the fetus), on the other hand they bring nutritional factors in excess or not entirely desirable.
For all these reasons, in principle, it is advisable to buy only live or frozen clams, from safe, certified sources of supply, with traceability and traceability. To further reduce the microbiological risk, it is advisable to cook them. Furthermore, it is also essential to consume them in the right portions and with adequate frequency of consumption.
: food diseases and intoxicationsContracting food diseases and intoxications during pregnancy can be very dangerous, not so much for the mother, but for the child. This statement is not intended to diminish the complications that can arise in the pregnant woman, but it is a fact that fetal compromises have a higher level of severity. Among these, the main ones are:
- Fetal death
- Abortion
- Teratogenesis
- Neuropathies and reduced mental abilities
- Premature birth.
Damage to the child can be roughly divided into two categories:
- Direct injury: the pathogen or toxin crosses the placenta or placental barrier and infects the baby
- Indirect offenses: negative influence of the pathology on the maternal organism, such as metabolic alterations, malnutrition and dehydration, high fever and severe inflammation, etc.
The list of parasites (worms and protozoa), bacteria, fungi, viruses, toxins and pollutants that can harm during pregnancy is long; below we will limit ourselves to mentioning the factors that could be conveyed by clams as food.
however, it is a rather vague term, as there are many similar creatures that fall into different Family, Genus and species.
Types of clams
In Italy, mainly four types of clams are fished and marketed locally: Venerupis decussata (true clam), Venerupis philippinarum (Filipino clam), Chamelea hen (common clam) e Dosinia sxoleta (lupine clam).
Quite similar to each other (but not identical), clams have more or less the same lifestyle habits:
- They stop at the seabed, lagoon and river mouths, under the sand or resting on it
- They filter the water from the siphons to eat the phytoplankton and from the gills to breathe
- They reproduce by pouring gametes (both male and female) directly into free water
- In addition to man, they are preyed on by animal species such as starfish and some fish
- To defend themselves, they seal the shells by retaining water inside the cavity; they can stay alive even a few days in the dry (at moderate temperatures).
