Can cannabis and ginger be considered safe and effective treatments for hyperemesis gravidarum (severe morning sickness during pregnancy)?
Natural Treatments for Morning Sickness
4.7/5 - (33 votes)
Nausea and vomiting are common during pregnancy, affecting 70 to 85% of women worldwide, but not in all countries. Population groups that eat more plant-based diets tend to have little or no nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, though. For example, on a nationwide basis, the lowest reported rates in the world are in India, at only 35%.
Sometimes, symptoms are so severe it can become life-threatening—a condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum. Each year, more than 50,000 pregnant women are hospitalized. What can we do, other than reducing our intake of saturated fat, for example—cutting the odds five-fold by cutting out one daily cheeseburger?
The best available evidence suggests that ginger is a safe and effective treatment. The recommended dose is a gram of powdered ginger a day. That’s about a half a teaspoon which is equivalent to about a full teaspoon of grated fresh ginger, or four cups of ginger tea. The maximum recommended daily dose is four grams, though; so, no more than about two teaspoons of powdered ginger a day.
Cannabis was rated as extremely effective or effective by nine out of ten pregnant women who used if for morning sickness, but cannabis use during pregnancy may be regarded as potentially harmful to the developing fetus. This is not your mother’s marijuana. Today’s marijuana is six to seven times more potent than in the 1970s, and may cause problems both for the developing fetus, and then later for the developing child. The bottom line is that pregnant and breastfeeding cannabis users should be advised to either decrease or, where possible, cease cannabis use entirely.
What do they mean “where possible”? Under what circumstances would it not be possible? People don’t realize how bad it can get. This is how one woman described it. Hyperemesis gravidarum can lead to such violent vomiting you can rupture your esophagus, bleed into your eyes, go blind, or comatose. So, there are certain circumstances where cannabis could be a lifesaver for the mother and the baby, as women sometimes understandably choose to terminate otherwise wanted pregnancies.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- L B Signorello, B L Harlow, S Wang, M A Erick. Saturated fat intake and the risk of severe hyperemesis gravidarum. Epidemiology. 1998 Nov;9(6):636-40.
- M Davis. Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy: an evidence-based review. J Perinat Neonatal Nurs. 2004 Oct-Dec;18(4):312-28.
- T R Einarson, C Piwko, G Koren. Quantifying the global rates of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy: a meta analysis. J Popul Ther Clin Pharmacol. 2013;20(2):e171-83.
- A C Huizink. Prenatal cannabis exposure and infant outcomes: overview of studies. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2014 Jul 3;52:45-52.
- R E Westfall, P A Janssen, P Lucas, R Capler. Survey of medicinal cannabis use among childbearing women: patterns of its use in pregnancy and retroactive self-assessment of its efficacy against 'morning sickness'. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2006 Feb;12(1):27-33.
- M Ding, M Leach, H Bradley. The effectiveness and safety of ginger for pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting: a systematic review. Women Birth. 2013 Mar;26(1):e26-30.
- T D Warner, D Roussos-Ross, M Behnke. It's not your mother's marijuana: effects on maternal-fetal health and the developing child. Clin Perinatol. 2014 Dec;41(4):877-94.
- S C Jaques, A Kingsbury, P Henshcke, C Chomchai, S Clews, J Falconer, M E Abdel-Latif, J M Feller, J L Oei. Cannabis, the pregnant woman and her child: weeding out the myths. J Perinatol. 2014 Jun;34(6):417-24.
- S Tesfaye, V Achari, Y C Yang, S Harding, A Bowden, J P Vora. Pregnant, vomiting, and going blind. Lancet. 1998 Nov 14;352(9140):1594.
- M Hillbom, J Pyhtinen, V Pylvänen, K Sotaniemi. Pregnant, vomiting, and coma. Lancet. 1999 May 8;353(9164):1584.
- WL Curry. Hyperemesis Gravidarum and Clinical Cannabis:To Eat or Not to Eat? Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics (The Haworth Integrative Healing Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 2, No. 3/4, 2002, pp. 63-83; and: Women and Cannabis: Medicine, Science, and Sociology (ed: Ethan Russo, Melanie Dreher, and Mary Lynn Mathre) The Haworth Integrative Healing Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2002, pp. 63-83.
- P Mazzota, L Magee, G Koren. Therapeutic abortions due to severe morning sickness. Unacceptable combination. Can Fam Physician. 1997 Jun;43:1055-7.
Image thanks to Sarah / Flickr
Nausea and vomiting are common during pregnancy, affecting 70 to 85% of women worldwide, but not in all countries. Population groups that eat more plant-based diets tend to have little or no nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, though. For example, on a nationwide basis, the lowest reported rates in the world are in India, at only 35%.
Sometimes, symptoms are so severe it can become life-threatening—a condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum. Each year, more than 50,000 pregnant women are hospitalized. What can we do, other than reducing our intake of saturated fat, for example—cutting the odds five-fold by cutting out one daily cheeseburger?
The best available evidence suggests that ginger is a safe and effective treatment. The recommended dose is a gram of powdered ginger a day. That’s about a half a teaspoon which is equivalent to about a full teaspoon of grated fresh ginger, or four cups of ginger tea. The maximum recommended daily dose is four grams, though; so, no more than about two teaspoons of powdered ginger a day.
Cannabis was rated as extremely effective or effective by nine out of ten pregnant women who used if for morning sickness, but cannabis use during pregnancy may be regarded as potentially harmful to the developing fetus. This is not your mother’s marijuana. Today’s marijuana is six to seven times more potent than in the 1970s, and may cause problems both for the developing fetus, and then later for the developing child. The bottom line is that pregnant and breastfeeding cannabis users should be advised to either decrease or, where possible, cease cannabis use entirely.
What do they mean “where possible”? Under what circumstances would it not be possible? People don’t realize how bad it can get. This is how one woman described it. Hyperemesis gravidarum can lead to such violent vomiting you can rupture your esophagus, bleed into your eyes, go blind, or comatose. So, there are certain circumstances where cannabis could be a lifesaver for the mother and the baby, as women sometimes understandably choose to terminate otherwise wanted pregnancies.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- L B Signorello, B L Harlow, S Wang, M A Erick. Saturated fat intake and the risk of severe hyperemesis gravidarum. Epidemiology. 1998 Nov;9(6):636-40.
- M Davis. Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy: an evidence-based review. J Perinat Neonatal Nurs. 2004 Oct-Dec;18(4):312-28.
- T R Einarson, C Piwko, G Koren. Quantifying the global rates of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy: a meta analysis. J Popul Ther Clin Pharmacol. 2013;20(2):e171-83.
- A C Huizink. Prenatal cannabis exposure and infant outcomes: overview of studies. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2014 Jul 3;52:45-52.
- R E Westfall, P A Janssen, P Lucas, R Capler. Survey of medicinal cannabis use among childbearing women: patterns of its use in pregnancy and retroactive self-assessment of its efficacy against 'morning sickness'. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2006 Feb;12(1):27-33.
- M Ding, M Leach, H Bradley. The effectiveness and safety of ginger for pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting: a systematic review. Women Birth. 2013 Mar;26(1):e26-30.
- T D Warner, D Roussos-Ross, M Behnke. It's not your mother's marijuana: effects on maternal-fetal health and the developing child. Clin Perinatol. 2014 Dec;41(4):877-94.
- S C Jaques, A Kingsbury, P Henshcke, C Chomchai, S Clews, J Falconer, M E Abdel-Latif, J M Feller, J L Oei. Cannabis, the pregnant woman and her child: weeding out the myths. J Perinatol. 2014 Jun;34(6):417-24.
- S Tesfaye, V Achari, Y C Yang, S Harding, A Bowden, J P Vora. Pregnant, vomiting, and going blind. Lancet. 1998 Nov 14;352(9140):1594.
- M Hillbom, J Pyhtinen, V Pylvänen, K Sotaniemi. Pregnant, vomiting, and coma. Lancet. 1999 May 8;353(9164):1584.
- WL Curry. Hyperemesis Gravidarum and Clinical Cannabis:To Eat or Not to Eat? Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics (The Haworth Integrative Healing Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 2, No. 3/4, 2002, pp. 63-83; and: Women and Cannabis: Medicine, Science, and Sociology (ed: Ethan Russo, Melanie Dreher, and Mary Lynn Mathre) The Haworth Integrative Healing Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2002, pp. 63-83.
- P Mazzota, L Magee, G Koren. Therapeutic abortions due to severe morning sickness. Unacceptable combination. Can Fam Physician. 1997 Jun;43:1055-7.
Image thanks to Sarah / Flickr
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Title
Natural Treatments for Morning Sickness
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
People have long asked me to do videos about medical marijuana, but because of the stigma, only recently have there been a substantial number of clinical studies published. As soon as there’s a critical mass, I’ll put out a series of videos on the potential pros and cons.
What else can ginger do? See:
- Reducing Radiation Damage With Ginger & Lemon Balm
- Which Spices Fight Inflammation?
- Spicing Up DNA Protection
- Turmeric Curcumin and Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Peppermint Aromatherapy for Nausea
- Ginger for Migraines
- Boosting Brown Fat Through Diet
- Fennel Seeds for Menstrual Cramps and PMS
Check out my favorite way to eat ginger here: Dr. Greger’s Natural Nausea Remedy Recipe.
Other healthy pregnancy videos include:
- Heart Disease May Start in the Womb
- Lead Contamination of Tea
- Caution: Anti-inflammatory Foods in the Third Trimester
- Flame Retardant Pollutants and Child Development
- Why Do Vegan Women Have 5x Fewer Twins?
- Pollutants in Salmon and Our Own Fat
- Bacon, Eggs, and Gestational Diabetes During Pregnancy
- How Long to Detox From Fish Before Pregnancy?
- Meat Fumes: Dietary Secondhand Smoke
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