Researchers analyzed 56 previous studies from 21 countries, and concluded that morning sickness may have evolved as a way to prevent miscarriages brought on by ingesting harmful foods such as meat, alcohol, sugar and oils.
Morning sickness occurs in 80 percent of pregnancies during the first three months. Until recently, it was thought to be the unpleasant result of drastic hormonal changes in the mother's body during the first trimester.
Lead researcher Dr. Craig Roberts says that while eating particular foods may not be as dangerous now as it was before the invention of refrigeration and food safety measures, women's bodies may be "pre-programmed by evolution" to avoid certain foods in the first few months of pregnancy. "It may be that the nausea women feel towards certain foodstuffs could be helpful, and that although it is inconvenient and miserable, their nausea could be Mother Nature's way of avoiding problems in pregnancy for both mother and fetus."
Dr. Maggie Blott, an obstetrician at King's College Hospital in London, says she could understand why nature might include a safety mechanism such as morning sickness, because the most important part of a fetus's development occurs in the first trimester. Blott urges women to avoid alcohol, smoking and drugs while pregnant, and to eat healthy foods and get adequate levels of folic acid.
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