Food cravings and aversions during pregnancy: relationships with nausea and vomiting
- 28 February 2002
- journal article
- Published by Elsevier BV in Appetite
- Vol. 38 (1), 45-51
- https://doi.org/10.1006/appe.2002.0470
Abstract
Food cravings and food aversions are common during pregnancy. A mechanism that may explain these changes in food preference is taste aversion learning. Accordingly, this study examined the temporal association between the first occurrences of nausea, vomiting, food cravings and food aversions during pregnancy. Ninety-nine women completed a questionnaire that asked about the occurrence, timing of first onset, duration, strength and targets of these symptoms. Nausea and vomiting were reported by 80% and 56% of the women, food cravings and aversions by 61% and 54% respectively. Although more women experienced both food cravings and aversions than either symptom alone, cravings and aversions were statistically unrelated. There was a significant positive correlation between week of onset of nausea and of aversions. In 60% of women reporting both nausea and food aversions, the first occurrence of each happened in the same week of pregnancy. No such association was found for cravings. These retrospective accounts provide good support for taste aversion learning as a mechanism for the development of some but not all food aversions during pregnancy. Prospective data are needed to confirm these temporal relationships and to assist understanding of the emergence of food cravings.Keywords
This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
- Prevention of food aversions in cancer patients during treatmentNutrition and Cancer, 1994
- Characterisation of nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy: a survey of 1000 womenJournal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 1992
- Nausea and Pregnancy OutcomeBirth, 1986
- Influence of cravings and aversions on diet in pregnancyEcology of Food and Nutrition, 1985
- Some New Aspects on Emesis gravidarumGynecologic and Obstetric Investigation, 1985
- Quality of acquired responses to tastes by Rattus norvegicus depends on type of associated discomfort.Journal of Comparative Psychology, 1983
- Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy – A Contribution to Its EpidemiologyGynecologic and Obstetric Investigation, 1983
- The special role of nausea in the acquisition of food dislikes by humansAppetite, 1982
- The acquisition of taste aversions in humansBehaviour Research and Therapy, 1981
- Behavioral Regulation of the Milieu Interne in Man and RatScience, 1974