Health - Resources and discussion for everything health-related

Scientists have uncovered why many women experience morning sickness during pregnancy, raising the prospects of a cure for the condition.

The study revealed that a hormone produced by the foetus is the trigger for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, which in extreme cases can require hospital treatment. Crucially, women who have naturally low levels of the hormone prior to pregnancy tend to be more sensitive to the surge of the hormone, called GDF15, in the first trimester, the research suggests.

“We now know that women get sick during pregnancy when they are exposed to higher levels of the hormone GDF15 than they are used to,” said Marlena Fejzo, a clinical assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, who is the paper’s first author.