Study: No cure for morning sickness

MARRIAGE may be a cure for love but there is no cure for morning sickness, an annoying, unwanted but expected rite of passage into motherhood, scientists have concluded.

The Cochrane researchers, led by an Irish scientist, looked at 27 controlled trials involving over 4,000 pregnant women who were given common treatments for their nausea.

The women, who were up to 20 weeks’ pregnant, found the treatments had little effect on their symptoms. Some made them feel worse.

There was limited evidence of ginger relieving nausea, as there was for vitamin B6, anti-histamines and anti-vomiting drugs, including the antenatal drug Debendox.

Some of the treatments caused adverse effects. Anti-vomiting drugs caused drowsiness and ginger caused heartburn in some people.

Despite its name, morning sickness, which affects more than half of women in the early stages of pregnancy, can occur at any time of day. Some suffer so badly they need to be hospitalised.

Due to concerns that pharmaceutical medicines may damage their unborn children, women are increasingly turning to non-drug treatments, including alternative therapies. The scientists point out, however, there was less evidence these work and they are less well regulated.

While morning sickness has been linked to increasing hormone levels, the exact cause is still unknown.