Is there a cure to morning sickness? Most experts say probably not, but there are a few measures--some scientific, some folkloric--that have gained a reputation for staving off this dreaded bane of early pregnancy.
One intriguing finding is that women who take multivitamins before they get pregnant are less prone to nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, and when they do get morning sickness, it is less severe.
In fact, it may be more important to take vitamins before getting pregnant than throughout your pregnancy--which is good news if you do experience morning sickness and can't keep those vitamins down.
But experts say that the only really vital nutrient for a developing child is folic acid, which lowers the risk of the neural tube defect that can cause spina bifida.
However, for folic acid to protect the embryo, it must be present in the mother's body at the very beginning of pregnancy--a time when she may not even know she is pregnant.
The only way a woman who might become pregnant can be sure of having sufficient folic acid is to be take folic acid or folate every day, either alone or as part of a regular multivitamin.
While conducting a clinical study on the value of folic acid supplements to prevent neural tube defects, Dr.
A.
E.
Czeizel noticed incidentally that the women who received vitamins were also less likely to experience nausea and vomiting than the women who we given a placebo during his study.
He theorized that the crucial element in the vitamin might be vitamin B6, which a number of studies have demonstrated can help treat morning sickness.
Some pregnant women who get morning sickness may have deficiencies of vitamin B6.
(Czeizel A.
E.
, "Prevention of hyperemesis gravidarum is better than treatment.
" American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 1996.
174:1667.
) A later study of pregnant women in Canada verified Dr.
Czeizel's observation of the association between taking vitamins at and around the time of conception and the severity of a pregnant woman's nausea and vomiting.
The researchers asked women who called an NVP Healthline about the characteristics of their nausea and vomiting, whether they had started taking vitamins in relation to their pregnancy, and what vitamins they were taking.
They determined whether these women were taking a supplement containing vitamin B6 and correlated the rates of vomiting with the use of vitamins.
They found that women who started taking a general multivitamin before becoming pregnant or at least before the 6th week of gestation were indeed less likely to experience nausea and vomiting.
(S.
Emelianova, P.
Mazzotta, A.
Einarson, and G.
Koren.
"Prevalence and severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and effect of vitamin supplementation.
" Clin Invest Med.
1999.
22:106-110.
) Unfortunately, no clinical trials have yet directly tested the use of multivitamins as a preventive treatment for NVP.
And since most prenatal vitamins contain iron, which can cause gastrointestinal problems for some women, when women show signs of NVP they are often advised to continue their prenatal vitamin.
It seems as though the best hope of actually preventing morning sickness from striking during pregnancy lies in taking a multivitamin containing both Vitamin B6 and folic acid before becoming pregnant and for the first six weeks of pregnancy at least.
One intriguing finding is that women who take multivitamins before they get pregnant are less prone to nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, and when they do get morning sickness, it is less severe.
In fact, it may be more important to take vitamins before getting pregnant than throughout your pregnancy--which is good news if you do experience morning sickness and can't keep those vitamins down.
But experts say that the only really vital nutrient for a developing child is folic acid, which lowers the risk of the neural tube defect that can cause spina bifida.
However, for folic acid to protect the embryo, it must be present in the mother's body at the very beginning of pregnancy--a time when she may not even know she is pregnant.
The only way a woman who might become pregnant can be sure of having sufficient folic acid is to be take folic acid or folate every day, either alone or as part of a regular multivitamin.
While conducting a clinical study on the value of folic acid supplements to prevent neural tube defects, Dr.
A.
E.
Czeizel noticed incidentally that the women who received vitamins were also less likely to experience nausea and vomiting than the women who we given a placebo during his study.
He theorized that the crucial element in the vitamin might be vitamin B6, which a number of studies have demonstrated can help treat morning sickness.
Some pregnant women who get morning sickness may have deficiencies of vitamin B6.
(Czeizel A.
E.
, "Prevention of hyperemesis gravidarum is better than treatment.
" American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 1996.
174:1667.
) A later study of pregnant women in Canada verified Dr.
Czeizel's observation of the association between taking vitamins at and around the time of conception and the severity of a pregnant woman's nausea and vomiting.
The researchers asked women who called an NVP Healthline about the characteristics of their nausea and vomiting, whether they had started taking vitamins in relation to their pregnancy, and what vitamins they were taking.
They determined whether these women were taking a supplement containing vitamin B6 and correlated the rates of vomiting with the use of vitamins.
They found that women who started taking a general multivitamin before becoming pregnant or at least before the 6th week of gestation were indeed less likely to experience nausea and vomiting.
(S.
Emelianova, P.
Mazzotta, A.
Einarson, and G.
Koren.
"Prevalence and severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and effect of vitamin supplementation.
" Clin Invest Med.
1999.
22:106-110.
) Unfortunately, no clinical trials have yet directly tested the use of multivitamins as a preventive treatment for NVP.
And since most prenatal vitamins contain iron, which can cause gastrointestinal problems for some women, when women show signs of NVP they are often advised to continue their prenatal vitamin.
It seems as though the best hope of actually preventing morning sickness from striking during pregnancy lies in taking a multivitamin containing both Vitamin B6 and folic acid before becoming pregnant and for the first six weeks of pregnancy at least.