Protecting Your Baby-to-Be by Margie Profet, ISBN 0-201-40768-X

This book presents a radically different approach to pregnancy 
sickness.  I first ran across Profet's ideas in a 1992 evolutionary 
psychology book called THE ADAPTED MIND, so I was delighted to see a 
more practical and detailed approach. 

Basically her idea is that pregnancy sickness has evolved to protect 
the fetus from certain natural toxins in foods, and that moms get sick 
when they try to eat food containing something harmful to baby.  

These are the foods she recommends/warns against: 

Good foods
- fruits and fruit juices
- milk and plain yogurt
- processed grains made into bland breads, pastas, and other starchy 
    foods
- cooked fresh eggs (hide as an ingredient)
- fresh meat, boiled or in microwave

Food to be cautious about--eat only in small quantities
-vegetables that are not bitter or pungent (green beans carrots, 
    tomatoes and peas
-oils and oily foods
- dessert flavoring derived from bitter or pungent plants (chocolate, 
     vanilla, ginger)

Food to avoid in first trimester
- pungent or bitter vegetables such as broccoli, Brussel sprouts and 
     peppers
- all spices and herbs
- onions, garlic, hot peppers and mustard
- mushrooms
- potatoes
- barbecued or burned foods
- beverages derived from bitter plant parts (i.e., coffee, tea, herb 
     teas, colas)

The book was very original, and a valuable contribution to our
understanding of this illness.  

The first important point was using a definition of pregnancy sickness 
which encompasses nausea, vomiting, cravings and aversions as all 
aspects of one phenomenon.  In the past, many researchers either 
failed to make the connection or purposely chose to ignore it.  One 
1985 study, for example focused only on vomiting because it is, "most 
easily quantified" (1).  Well, sure it's easier...but then you miss 
the whole picture.  

The second important thing she does is throw out all the old theories 
about nausea being all in the head.  I think there is more evidence 
she could have offered, but it was very good to see her dismissing 
this well-established idea.

Third, it is exciting that she proposed some different ideas that 
could lead to new treatments and areas for research.  I was 
particularly impressed by the idea that eating clay, a common practice 
among pregnant women in primitive cultures, could prevent toxins from 
being absorbed and might be developed into a remedy for women.       

But there are some problems with her theory.  

First is that the foods she warns against are actually craved by MANY 
women during pregnancy.  I've copied many, many stories of 
cravings/aversions from misc.kids.pregnancy, but I truly haven't 
noticed that the cravings followed her list.  Indeed, a  lot of people 
report they can only tolerate potatoes, and yet those are on the list 
to avoid.  

Also, several other researchers have suggested that the toxins she 
warns against occur in such minuscule amounts that one would ha to eat 
a truckload of broccoli in order to harm the fetus (Newsweek, October 
1995).

Third, I was really hoping to see some solid research.  She relies on 
a lot of anecdotal evidence from her female relatives rather than
anything statistical.  And this *is* quantifiable--the diary method 
that Gadsby (2) used for his 1993 study on nausea would work well.  

Colleen Kay Porter
January, 1996

REFERENCES
1.  Mark. A Klebanoff, Patricia A Koslowe, Richard Kaslow and George G 
Rhodes, 'Epidemiology of Vomiting in Early Pregnancy', Obstetrics & 
Gynecology, 1985, 66: 612-16, p. 612.

2.  Roger Gadsby, Anthony M Barnie-Adshead and Carol Jagger, 'A 
prospective study of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy'. Br. J.Gen. 
Pract., 1993, 43: 245-8, p. 246.