If you're pregnant and suffering from morning sickness, you're probably desperate for anything that promises to relieve your symptoms. While you may have heard that mustard will cure the nausea, there's no evidence to suggest this. There are, however, a few alternative treatments that can help alleviate your symptoms and discomfort.
Morning Sickness
Morning sickness strikes the greater proportion of pregnant women, say Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel in their book "What To Expect When You're Expecting." So if you're suffering from early pregnancy nausea, you're not alone. Actually, "morning" sickness is a misnomer -- the queasiness can strike any time of the day or night, and while it generally disappears after early pregnancy, it can also last the entire nine months.
Causes
Morning sickness results from elevated hormone levels and may actually be an indication that all is going well with your pregnancy, according to AskDrSears.com. This is because healthy embryos produce more of the hormone, which serves to signal to your body that you're pregnant and prevents you from having a period and losing the vital uterine lining in which your embryo is implanted.
Mustard
There simply isn't any evidence to suggest that mustard is a cure for morning sickness. In fact, there aren't any true cures for morning sickness -- the only "cure" is tincture of time. You can alleviate symptoms with pharmaceuticals prescribed by your doctor, and in some cases, with foods like ginger, which confuses the nervous system and causes it to stop processing the sensation of nausea.
A Caveat
There is the possibility that for some people, very spicy mustard containing horseradish might relieve symptoms of pregnancy-related nausea for a short period of time. This is because the spicy molecules in horseradish are similar to those in ginger, and they can also confuse the nervous system to a certain extent. However, most people find ginger more palatable -- particularly when they're already nauseated -- than they do horseradish.
References
- "What to Expect When You're Expecting"; Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel; 2008
- AskDrSears.com: Morning Sickness
