Pregnant Women Get Morning Sickness to Protect Fetus

Pregnant Women Get Morning Sickness to Protect Fetus

From the article:

Morning sickness. It's the bane of many of a pregnancy. And many a future mother wonders at the apparently unnecessary suffering. But, it turns out, there's meaning to the misery. Two evolutionary biologists report that morning sickness protects both the pregnant woman and the developing embryo just when
the fetus is most vulnerable.

After testing the two dominant theories (one adaptive and the other non-adaptive) for why two-thirds of women around the world -- but seemingly no other mammals -- experience nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, only one holds water, says Paul Sherman, Cornell professor of neurobiology and behavior and a
Weiss Presidential Fellow.

"Our study, which tested theories and predictions about the nature of parent-offspring conflict in human pregnancy, shows that nausea and vomiting in pregnancy is beneficial by expelling such foods as meat and strong-tasting vegetables that historically and still may contain harmful toxins and microorganisms that could potentially sicken the woman and damage her fetus just when its organs are developing and are most vulnerable to chemicals," said Sherman, who is an expert in Darwinian medicine -- viewing diseases from an evolutionary perspective.

Well, at the rate that I was getting sick with both my pregnancies, my body must work really hard to protect the fetus!

Pregnant Women Get Morning Sickness to Protect Fetus