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Print Date: 2012-05-29 3:58:32
What the body needs or what the body wants? Food Cravings
Stage:
Pregnancy
Category: Food, Nutrition, Recipes
Tags:
,PJ Pregnancy
Obstetrician Dr Alexander Doo of the Women’s Clinic in Central says, “During pregnancy, with the various
hormones changing, an altered sense of taste and smell, food cravings are very common.” Pharmacist and
Chinese medicine practitioner Gianna Buonocore, at Integrated Medicine Institute, agrees. “Food cravings are
common during pregnancy and are linked to hormonal changes…high hormone levels affect women in many
different ways, including her sense of taste and smell and need for love and attention. She may desire specific
foods because her body may require something in those foods – vitamin B, iron, or simply because they give her
comfort – chocolate. It’s fine to give in to cravings as long as women eat a good breakfast (preferably between
7am and 9am when the stomach energy is at its most efficient time), eat regularly and do not skip meals, include
a nutritious snack or two during the day, and keep fit.”
Dr Doo, however, disagrees with the reasons for cravings. “The theory of
food cravings reflecting the body’s need for nutrients has been
proposed, but researchers have looked into the phenomenon and have
shown this not to be the case. The reason for these urges is still
unclear.”
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Elizabeth Somer, author of
Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy, agrees with both theories. “The
extreme hormonal changes women go through during pregnancy can
have a powerful impact on taste and smell. (This would help explain why women going through menopause can
also experience strong food cravings and aversions). But the bottom line is that no one really knows for sure.”
Whatever the reasons for cravings, they are very real. A recent survey conducted by www.babycentre.com
revealed that more than 85 per cent of pregnant women experience one or more types of food craving. The most
common cravings were for something sweet (40 per cent), salty food snacks came in second (33 per cent), spicy
food was a mere 17 per cent and sour citrus fruits and food trailed at 10 per cent.
“Cravings are less likely to occur in women who eat a well balanced diet of varied foods and flavours, and who
take a good multivitamin supplement before becoming pregnant,” adds Gianna.
But what about the phenomenon of smell intolerances? I was so bad with this that I couldn’t even go shopping
because as soon as I smelt the food in the supermarket, I would vomit. Even going home at night when most
people are cooking dinner, the wafts of smells made me vomit. And why do we crave food we do not normally
like? Gianna says, “Sometimes her senses are so accentuated that on the one hand she craves something
desperately but on the other hand she simply can’t stand something or has a strong aversion to something she
once loved. Sometimes this can serve as a guide as to what is good and bad for women at a particular time or
stage [of pregnancy]. I remember a woman who could not stand smoking once she fell pregnant but started up
again after the baby was born, vegetarians may find themselves craving hamburgers for extra iron or protein,
and underweight women may crave fatty-type foods to add on more calories.”
Somer doesn’t see a link between cravings and body needs, her argument being, “if people craved what the
body needs, we would all eat more broccoli and less chocolate.”
But can food cravings be harmful? “Most cravings and aversions are more interesting than serious and, for the
most part, can be indulged in moderation,” says Somer.
Dr Doo says that common food cravings such as sour, spicy, salty, sweet and dairy foods are not really harmful
but “a more serious form of food cravings is called pica, when the pregnant mother starts craving non-food items,
for example corn starch, clay dirt etc. This obviously isn’t healthy.” Gianna has known cravings such as for soil,
laundry powder and cigarette ash and says that these kind of cravings could be linked to zinc or iron
deficiencies. Experts tend to agree, saying they don’t really know what causes pica (Latin for Magpie, a bird that
will eat almost anything) but that people who often suffer from it often lack iron even though the substances they
are eating don’t necessarily contain large amounts of iron. If you crave non-food items, consult your doctor.
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