Causes of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy finally clarified

The scientific journal Nature has just published the results of a study on morning nausea in pregnant women. Researchers from the University of Cambrige and the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka have discovered the causes of this phenomenon, which impedes the normal functioning of 80% of women in the early stages of pregnancy. 2% of them, due to very severe torpor, require hospitalization for health risks to mother and child. Symptoms are sometimes so severe that they require intravenous fluid supplementation in a hospital setting. This is known professionally as unwanted vomiting and is the most common cause of hospitalization for women in the first trimester of pregnancy. According to the study, the "culprit" of these afflictions turned out to be a hormone produced by the fetus, a protein known as GDF 15. It turns out that the discomfort experienced and the severity of torsion depends on the amount of the hormone produced by the placenta, and the mother's previous exposure to it before becoming pregnant.

DGF 15 is not a protein found only in pregnancy. It is constantly present in small amounts in all tissues of the body. However, after pregnancy, the placenta begins to produce it in large quantities and distributes it in the blood of the mother-to-be. Women who have higher levels of DGF before pregnancy are less prone to morning nausea. On the other hand, if it was low before pregnancy, they feel nausea much more strongly, and the high amount of protein produced by the placenta is a kind of shock to the body. Until recently, the cause of this pregnancy disease was completely unknown, and although there are already partially effective methods of treating nausea and vomiting, for fear of administering any drugs at this stage of fetal development, women are often not effectively treated. Research conducted by scientists indicates that the ailment can be linked to the production by the placenta of the hormone DGF 15, which, by affecting the mother's brain, induces precisely nausea and vomiting.

The international study represents a huge advance in discovering the cause of these pregnancy ailments. The fact that the researchers also proved that their strength and annoyance experienced by a pregnant woman depends on the amount of hormone produced by the placenta. This has important implications in the continued search for a way to reduce this agonizing problem. Professor Stephen O'Rahilly of the University of Cambrige points out that the new knowledge will help prevent the ailment and perhaps in the future build up tolerance to the hormone before pregnancy. And this will be the key to nullifying or getting rid of this characteristic affliction altogether.