Can morning sickness and Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) be prevented?
We've all heard the horror stories from that one friend who said she vomited her WHOLE pregnancy or the one who had non-stop nausea and "morning sickness" the entire first trimester really calling into question the term “morning sickness”, more like “all-day sickness”!
Or maybe you’ve lived through the horrors of all-day vomiting or Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) yourself. We all experience our own tests on the motherhood journey, but I truly hope you never have to experience this one.
What is HG?
Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is the medical term for severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. The symptoms can be severely uncomfortable. You might vomit more than four times a day, become dehydrated, feel constantly dizzy and lightheaded and lose ten pounds or more (not what we’re going for in pregnancy)! Common treatments for HG involve using anti-nausea medications, something that should be a last resort treatment option (especially when there is so much that can be done to prevent it).
So, if you’re preparing for pregnancy and you want to avoid this common pregnancy complaint, you may be asking questions like:
“What foods can I eat to prevent pregnancy nausea and vomiting?”
“Is there anything I can do to prevent pregnancy nausea and vomiting besides taking medication?”
If you could prevent the severity of pregnancy nausea and vomiting and simply bask in the bliss of growing an entirely new human inside of you, wouldn't you at least want to try?
And yes!! There is SO MUCH you can do to minimize your risk for developing nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.
So, what can you do to prevent pregnancy nausea and vomiting?
A sluggish liver may contribute to pregnancy nausea and vomiting
Of course there are multiple factors that can contribute to increased nausea, vomiting or Hyperemisis Gravidarum (HG) in pregnancy- and I expand on these in my course Resilient Motherhood and offer natural therapeutics in my First Trimester BONUS lesson- but one theory is that it may be related in part to inefficient liver detoxification or a "sluggish liver".
In my review of the available research, I've found that insufficient intake of foods/nutrients like:
🐟 seafood
🧄 alliums (like onions and garlic)
💧 water
🍠 vitamin B6
🥩 vitamin B12
are associated with increased risk of developing nausea and vomiting (and HG) in pregnancy. Well, these are all foods and nutrients (though not all of them) that support liver detoxification! SO... one could make an educated theory to say that excessive nausea and vomiting in pregnancy may be due in part to inefficient liver detox.
The authors of one study stated:
"The intake of seafood, allium vegetables (such as garlic and onions) and water was significantly lower among women who developed HG than among women in the non-HG group.
The findings suggest that a moderate intake of water and adherence to a healthy diet that includes allium vegetables and fish are associated with a lower risk of developing hyperemesis."
This study used a 1-year food frequency questionnaire which is historically not a very reliable measurement of nutrition intake. However, I would hypothesize that slowed detoxification may be playing a role since intake of seafood, allium vegetables and water all contain essential nutrients to support detoxification (such as copper, selenium, omega 3s, zinc, and sulfur).
Side note: although this study didn’t observe organ meat intake, organ meats are also a great source of these same nutrients (and a more concentrated source for several of them).
Vitamin B6 and B12 (found in highest amounts in animal foods like muscle meats, organ meats, seafood, shellfish, dairy and eggs) have also been shown in multiple studies to improve nausea and vomiting in pregnancy so one could hypothesize that insufficient amounts of these nutrients in the preconception period may play a role in the development of pregnancy nausea and vomiting.
This is one of the reasons why I recommend my clients take organ-based supplements starting preconception, like those from Heart & Soil (I personally love the Warrior and the Her Package for women’s fertility and pregnancy support).
Already pregnant and seeking immediate symptom management?
If you are dealing with nausea and pregnancy aversions but still want to optimally nourish your growing baby, check out my First Trimester Meal Plan (included as a BONUS in my Resilient Motherhood course)
I've formulated this meal plan with some key focuses in mind. Based on my own personal experience, the experiences of the clients I've worked with as well as critical nutritional needs, I've designed this meal plan to meet the needs of common pregnancy aversions and preferences without compromising quality.
Enjoy this animal-based meal plan that's sure to nourish!
This is a great starting point! (and it’s great even if you’re out of the first trimester!)
This meal plan includes recipes and a shopping list for 7 full days of meals and snacks, immediately downloadable as a PDF file.
I get that you might be feeling skeptical that you’ll be able to follow this meal plan and you might feel like crackers and bread are all you can stand to look at.
At the same time, I know you know how important it is to continue nourishing yourself throughout pregnancy both for your own well being as well as to nourish your baby to be as healthy as possible.
If you’re looking for specific nutrition recommendations based on your current stage of pregnancy and your unique food preferences/aversions, then don’t wait to book with me in Bloom and Nourish: Personalized Nutrition Coaching to Transform Your Pregnancy where we’ll collaborate to offer you the support you need to both nourish your pregnancy AND maintain sanity around food so you can enter motherhood confident that you’ve done everything in your power to birth healthfully and to gift your baby with resilient health.
Preparing for pregnancy?
Don’t wait until you develop pregnancy complications like HG/morning sickness, high blood pressure, Gestational Diabetes, or Group B Streptococcus (GBS) and are faced with the very real consequences that may come with needing to manage them. Prevention is your BEST medicine.
Join my free training!
Unlock Your Fertility: How to Transform Your Habits for Optimal Pregnancy Success
Where you’ll learn:
How to properly time intercourse for the most chance of successful conception
What factors may be depleting your essential fertility nutrients
What you can do to restore your health and fortify your body to become the most fertile ground to grow your future child
The contributors to HG are multifactorial
In a 2012 study on the treatments of HG, the authors stated that it is still unknown as to the specific causes of HG.
"The pathogenesis [disease development] is not fully understood, but may be attributed to hormones, gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction, thyrotoxicosis, serotonin, hepatic abnormalities, autonomic nervous dysfunction, nutritional deficiencies, asthma, allergies, Helicobacter pylori infection, or psychosomatic causes.”
I address most of these factors, such as:
hormone balance
digestive health
thyroid health
serotonin production
liver health
nervous system balance
nutritional deficiencies
reducing histamine levels (which play roles in asthma and allergies)
addressing mindset leading up to pregnancy
Throughout my course Resilient Motherhood: a self-paced guide to preparing for conception and beyond.
When you balance your hormones, optimize your fertility and follow an optimal preconception diet, you can NATURALLY avoid SO many pregnancy complications and common complaints such as pregnancy nausea and vomiting (but also Gestational Diabetes, Pre-ecclampsia, Gestational Hypertension, Pre-term Birth and more!!)
This is honestly why I feel like I had minimal, very manageable nausea and nearly zero vomiting in my pregnancies (each time I did vomit, it was for a VERY good reason- like accidentally taking rancid fish oil 😑)
Want to learn my step-by-step strategy to prepare for YOUR optimal pregnancy?
Why would detoxification needs increase in pregnancy?
Pregnancy is one of the stages in a woman’s life where you produce the highest levels of hormones (like estrogen, progesterone and Hcg, for example), hormones that play important roles in keeping your pregnant and ensuring that your baby develops optimally. But just like when you’re not pregnant, your liver still has to process and eliminate hormone metabolites.
Pair this high amount of hormones to process and eliminate with commonly experienced pregnancy constipation then you may be reabsorbing what was intended as waste!
Liver detox and gut health are intimately intertwined
Your liver is your body’s “cleanup crew”, your gallbladder is your body’s “garbage truck” and gut is your body’s “dump”. Wouldn’t it be horrible if the waste that was intended for the dump and eventual landfill was returned to your home to have to clean up all over again???
Well that’s what happens with “entero-hepatic recirculation” when the waste in the gut is reabsorbed back to the liver to be re-processed.
Gross!
Ensuring you are effectively processing AND binding your waste enroute to the gut and that you’re having regular bowel movements is critical to prevent reabsorption of toxic waste.
Wondering if you need to “do a detox” before you get pregnant or what a fertility detox would even entail? (Hint: it’s not a juice cleanse.)
Then check out the episode on my Resilient Fertility Podcast: “Do you need to “do a detox” before getting pregnant?”
Eating too little protein may be worsening your pregnancy nausea and vomiting
I'll also add that in my personal and clinical experience, I've seen inadequate protein intake to be the primary determinant of whether my clients would experience higher severity of those common pregnancy symptoms. Once they increased their protein intake, their symptoms were much more manageable.
But of course right?? Because if we look to the best sources of those nutrients I mentioned above, you’ll find them in protein-rich, animal-based foods.
Genetics may play a role in development of HG
One article reported, “In 2018, a UCLA-led study identified two genes that are associated with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). These genes, known as GDF15 and IGFBP7, are believed to be involved in the development of the placenta, and they play an important role in early pregnancy and appetite regulation…
When scientists compared the variations in DNA from pregnant women with no nausea and vomiting to women with hyperemesis gravidarum, they found that the DNA variation around the genes GDF15 and IGFBP7 was associated with HG. These findings were then confirmed in an independent study that evaluated women with hyperemesis gravidarum. It appears that proteins GDF15 and IGFBP7 are abnormally high in women with severe nausea and vomiting.”
Now if your mother and her mother experienced nausea and vomiting in pregnancy you MAY have a genetic predisposition, but the thing I love about epigenetics is that your environment (including diet and lifestyle) can determine which genes are expressed. You have the power to arrange your life to put the cards in your favor and minimize this common pregnancy complaint!
So if enhancing your status of critical liver supportive nutrients and foods can minimize these symptoms, then preconception is THE BEST time to focus on building up your stores.
If you want to take every step in your power to both optimize your pregnancy experience and outcomes, then my course Resilient Motherhood is for you. What are you waiting for?
And tell me in the comments- what brings you here today? Are you looking of symptom resolution or are you working to prevent nausea and vomiting in pregnancy?
