“As unpleasant as it is, the nausea and vomiting of “morning sickness” experienced by two-thirds of pregnant women is Mother Nature’s way of protecting mothers and fetuses from food-borne illness and also shielding the fetus from chemicals that can deform fetal organs…
“That is the conclusion of two Cornell University evolutionary biologists who examined the outcomes of thousands of successful and unsuccessful pregnancies.
“In the latest issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology (Vol. 75, No. 2, pp. 113-148, June 2000), Samuel M. Flaxman and Paul W. Sherman report that NVP (for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, as morning sickness is known in medical terms) serves a beneficial function.
“The finding helps explain why many pregnant women develop an aversion to meats, as well as to certain vegetables and caffeinated beverages, in early pregnancy and prefer bland-tasting foods instead.”
Read more at Cornell Chronicle
