A new study published this month has given experts a better understanding of what may cause morning sickness during pregnancy.
The study, published in the scientific journal ‘Nature’, pinpoints a hormone named GDF15 as the possible root of nausea and vomiting throughout the first trimester of gestation.
Findings also indicate that having naturally decreased levels of this hormone, which is produced by the foetus prior to pregnancy, may make a woman more likely to experience a surge of GDF15 in the first trimester.
The report states that the foetal production of this hormone and maternal sensitivity to it may both contribute to the development of hyperemesis gravidarum, a more extreme, persistent nausea and vomiting condition that can occur during pregnancy.
It is hoped that these findings will aid in the discovery of a treatment for morning sickness as well as for hyperemesis gravidarum.
The research found that more GDF15 in a woman’s body throughout pregnancy seems to have a direct correlation with the severity of her symptoms.
The study also found that women with hyperemesis gravidarum had increased levels of this hormone during their pregnancy in contrast to those with no symptoms.
This research has suggested that medication that lowers or blocks GDF15 may potentially be an effective aid in preventing extreme sickness in the future.
Pre-exposing a person to GDF15 would have to be done “safely and slowly in a way that doesn’t make them feel miserable,” Cambridge professor and Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, who was also part of the study, explains.
“Then we can, we hope, reduce the risk of them developing hyperemesis in the pregnancy.”
In a news release, Marlena Fejzo, a clinical assistant professor of population and public health sciences in the Center for Genetic Epidemiology at the USC’s Keck School of Medicine and the paper’s first author, said:
“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.
“This study provides strong evidence that one or both of those methods will be effective in preventing or treating [hyperemesis gravidarum, or severe morning sickness].”
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