title: Appetite sensations and nausea and vomiting in pregnancy: an overview of the explanations.
abstract: We review information about the potential mechanisms underlying nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP), food cravings, and/or aversions in pregnancy. In addition to providing overviews about genetic predispositions and hormonal associations with appetite sensations and NVP, we review two functional explanations: the "maternal and embryo protection" and the "placental growth and development" hypotheses. We conclude with a discussion about the kinds of data that would enable us to better evaluate the relative advantages and disadvantages of NVP across disparate resource and ecological conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA. cpatil@uic.edu
authors.forename: Crystal L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.forename: Elizabeth T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Abrams
authors.forename: Alexis R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Steinmetz
authors.forename: Sera L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001066:Appetite / Q000502:physiology*; D003467:Cultural Deprivation; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009325:Nausea / Q000209:etiology; D010842:Pica; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000209:etiology*; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology