Psychological Factors in Food Aversions, Nausea, and Vomiting During Pregnancy

Todd R. Schachtman^1, , Diana Klakotskaia¹, Jennifer M. Walker² and Andrew J. Hill³

¹Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America

²Department of Medicine, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America

³Academic Unit of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Cite this paper:
Todd R. Schachtman, Diana Klakotskaia, Jennifer M. Walker and Andrew J. Hill. Psychological Factors in Food Aversions, Nausea, and Vomiting During Pregnancy. Journal of Food and Nutrition Research. 2016; 4(10):677-689. doi: 10.12691/jfnr-4-10-8

Abstract

The etiology of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) involves many variables that influence its onset, duration, and severity; and it is well known that its occurrence has health implications for the offspring. This review focuses on psychological and psychosocial factors as influences on NVP (“morning sickness”), including cultural, social, and associative variables. Certain foods are more likely to result in NVP than others, and this often stems from women’s experiential history with those food substances, including the potential to form associative-based aversions. Moreover, acknowledging the role of associative factors could influence the magnitude of NVP. Many demographic variables (e.g., geographical regions, age, socio-economic status) are related to NVP, but whether a population has more women with NVP may be due to certain foods being more common or rare in the diet of that population, as predicted by theories of associative processes. Consideration of the role of associative processes on NVP has implications for understanding its cause and magnitude. Also, mood and poorer psychological adjustment can exacerbate NVP. Issues related to management or treatment of the disorder are reviewed.

Keywords:
nausea vomiting pregnancy conditioning morning sickness NVP

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