Morning sickness may protect fetus and mother

William Atkins
Monday, 19 May 2008 19:09

Science - Health

Flaxman and Sherman now think that morning sickness serves to protect mothers and their developing fetuses from any dangers that the body senses.

For instance, morning sickness is often triggered when food is eaten that contains harmful pesticides or when alcohol is taken in by the mother.

In fact, they have found that morning sickness occurs most frequently when the fetus is between six and eighteen weeks old. At this range the fetus is growing organs and, consequently, they are likely to be very vulnerable to dangerous chemicals introduced by the mother into her blood stream.

Flaxman and Sherman contend that only humans get morning sickness, and no other mammals, because of the wide variety of foods that we eat. Because we have a greater chance of ingesting harmful chemicals, our bodies have evolved to protect the unborn baby from such dangers.

Flaxman, from the UC Department of Evolutionary Biology, is quoted to have said, “To say that morning sickness is uncomfortable is a real understatement, and a lot of people are looking at ways to deal with it. But if nausea and vomiting truly serve a useful function, then one has to look more carefully at strategies for dealing with these symptoms.” [LiveScience: “Causes of Morning Sickness Revealed”]

Scientists still do not know very much about morning sickness. Flaxman and Sherman feel much more research should be performed on the subject. By knowing more about morning sickness, they content, that the medical community will be better prepared in dealing with pregnancies and providing for better comfort to pregnant women when they have morning sickness.

Both men plan additional research. In fact, Flaxman states, "We're really interested in a more exhaustive analysis to see if morning sickness really does only occur in human beings, or whether there are other animals out there."

Both researchers have been studying the implications of morning sickness in women for many years.

On June 8, 2000, the article “CU research: Morning sickness protects both unborn and mothers-to-be” was published by Cornell University, and a paper ("Morning Sickness: A Mechanism for Protecting Mother and Embryo") was published in the June issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology.

At that time, Sherman stated “Morning sickness' is a complete misnomer…. NVP doesn't occur just in the morning, but at any time during the waking hours, and it's not a sickness in the pathological sense. We should change the name to wellness insurance."