What causes morning sickness during pregnancy?
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What is morning sickness and when does it usually start during pregnancy?
The Pat Kenny Show on News Talk. Well, I'm joined now by Luke O'Neill, Professor of Biochemistry at the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College in Dublin. Luke, good morning. Good morning, Pat. You're talking to us from New York and you're going to talk about uh an affliction uh from which you and I will never suffer.
Yeah, that's right, but I'm at a big biomedical conference here, there's a big breakthrough. Morning sickness of all things during pregnancy, and they found what causes a pet amazingly. I think a GDF fifteen, sort of a natural protein, and now they've got a way to treat it. So it's seen as a big breakthrough for that particular condition.
Now, not every uh mother suffers from morning sickness in pregnancy, so when would it typically uh affect someone?
Yeah, normally it starts about week four during pregnancy. Four to six is the f weeks is the normal time. Gets worse by about week twelve and then it goes away for most women, which is good I guess. But it's very disturbing because the statistics show some women, you know, they've taken days off work. It's it's very debilitating. They hate the word morning sickness, by the way, Pat the the experts. It's all day it can happen, not just in the morning. That's a bit of a myth, you know. But it's relatively common. You know, as many eighty percent of women would have some kind of disturbance and half of those would be vomiting. So it's a really nasty thing.
So and of course many of uh the the mothers to be are working mothers to be, I mean, working outside the home, so uh their employment will be affected.
How common is severe morning sickness (hyperemesis gravidarum) and what are its risks?
They are, yeah. And it it's been trivialized is the view to some extent. I just it's common, you know, people get it and they get sick. But the truth is, uh on an average pregnancy, eight days off work is the average. And that's serious for them, obviously, you know, they get disrupted, they're making less money, maybe, you know. So it's seen as quite an important thing.
Now you mentioned that it can be trivialized. Oh, it's just morning sickness, it'll go away. But it can become medically concerning.
Yeah, that's a severe end. I think that's hypermesis gravidarum, that is the medical term. That's really serious morning sickness. Uh three percent of women get that. And it's really bad. And in those women, it can be very serious and end up in hospital. You know, there's even a mortality rate here. Famously, Kate Middleton had a pat Amy Schumer. There's some people that have reported on this, you know. This is this is a serious end. And as I say, if it gets really bad, you end up being hospitalized. And that that's the um the target. This new new breakthrough is really going to be.
What practical tips can help lessen nausea and vomiting for pregnant women?
And and uh Catherine, the Prince of Wales, Kate Middleton, as you mentioned, she suffered from this uh hyperemesis during all three of her pregnancies, so uh you know, it seems to be, if you like, in the blood.
She did, yeah. And then she's a bit an advocate then of course for research pack because you herself suffer so much. A big one, Pat as well, is Charlotte Bronte, the writer.
Yeah.
I reckon she died died of it, 'cause people would have died of this, you know, a hundred years ago or whatever. Nowadays you go to hospital, you can be looked after, the rate of uh sort of seriousness is less. But even still, like three percent of women have a hugely important uh sort of sickness during pregnancy.
Yeah. Now they have a few tips. Uh before we get onto the breakthrough, they have a few tips as how to uh to maybe ease it out a little bit.
They do, yes. So small meals. Don't don't eat too much as the first tip. Frequent meals, small small amounts, you know. Lots of fluids are a key thing, of course, as well. Dry crackers, Pat, interestingly, and we all get nausea, don't we? From time to time. But dry crackers can help. Uh and then ginger, Pat, ginger is a way to stop the um the vomiting. There are things that women can do to sort of help help alleviate the symptoms.
Now what about vitamin B six?
What is the newly identified protein GDF‑15 and how does it cause morning sickness?
Yeah, that's been shown exactly right. That's been shown to bring some benefits as well.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is morning sickness and when does it usually start during pregnancy?
0:01–1:26
2
How common is severe morning sickness (hyperemesis gravidarum) and what are its risks?
1:26–2:15
3
What practical tips can help lessen nausea and vomiting for pregnant women?
2:15–3:19
4
What is the newly identified protein GDF‑15 and how does it cause morning sickness?
3:19–4:34
5
Why does the fetus produce GDF‑15 and how does it protect the baby?
4:34–5:52
6
Can the GDF‑15 pathway be blocked to treat severe nausea in pregnancy?
5:52–7:19
7
How might GDF‑15 inhibition help cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy?
7:19–8:31
8
What role is AI playing in accelerating drug discovery for conditions like morning sickness?
8:31–9:52