Pickles and ice cream! Food cravings in pregnancy: hypotheses, preliminary evidence, and directions for future research

@article{Orloff2014PicklesAI,
  title={Pickles and ice cream! Food cravings in pregnancy: hypotheses, preliminary evidence, and directions for future research},
  author={Natalia C. Orloff and Julia M. Hormes},
  journal={Frontiers in Psychology},
  year={2014},
  volume={5}
}
Women in the United States experience an increase in food cravings at two specific times during their life, (1) perimenstrually and (2) prenatally. The prevalence of excess gestational weight gain (GWG) is a growing concern due to its association with adverse health outcomes in both mothers and children. To the extent that prenatal food cravings may be a determinant of energy intake in pregnancy, a better understanding of craving etiology could be crucial in addressing the issue of excessive… 
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What do we know about Food Cravings and Aversions during Pregnancy?
During pregnancy, it is very common for women to make changes in the choice of foods they eat and often experience cravings and aversions to certain foods. The purpose of this narrative review is to…
Food cravings in pregnancy: Preliminary evidence for a role in excess gestational weight gain
TLDR
It is suggested that both craving frequency and consumption of craved foods may increase risk of excess GWG, providing support for the development of interventions targeting cravings in pregnancy as potentially modifiable determinants of energy intake.
Nutritional and clinical associations of food cravings in pregnancy
  • A. Hill, V. Cairnduff, D. McCance
  • Medicine
    Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association
  • 2016
TLDR
Cravings commonly occur in pregnancy and contributed to a small increase in energy intake, however, this did not impact on overall dietary intake, nor was it associated with excessive gestational weight gain, maternal glycaemia or offspring outcome measurements.
Food Cravings and Aversions during Pregnancy: A Current Snapshot
TLDR
The results support previous findings that food cravings remain as a normative phenomenon, but while evident for the majority of mothers, can vary tremendously in terms of foods that are preferred.
Food craving frequency mediates the relationship between emotional eating and excess weight gain in pregnancy.
TLDR
A striking dearth of research examining potentially modifiable psychosocial predictors of excess GWG is addressed, suggesting a need to teach skills to help patients better manage low moods and cravings.
The Transdiagnostic Nature of Cravings: Smoking Cessation and Food Craving in Pregnancy.
TLDR
Testing the hypothesis that pre-pregnancy smoking cessation elevates excess GWG risk via an increase in food craving frequency highlighted the importance of incorporating strategies for managing cravings into behavioral interventions promoting healthy GWG for women endorsing pre-Pregnancy tobacco use.
Impact of Sugary Food Consumption on Pregnancy: A Review
TLDR
Large, well-designed intervention-controlled trials with biological biomarkers to ensure dietary adherence are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions in order to provide effective nutritional advice.
Food craving: new contributions on its assessment, moderators, and consequences
TLDR
A reduced version of the German FC Q-T (FCQ-T-r), which consists of 15 items only, is presented, showing that correlates of this short version were similar to those that have been found for the long version, and it was shown that validity indices were similar for both versions, providing further support that the FCQ- T-r represents an adequate alternative for the assessment of trait food craving.
A Narrative Review of Nutritional Malpractices, Motivational Drivers, and Consequences in Pregnant Women: Evidence from Recent Literature and Program Implications in Ethiopia
TLDR
These nutritional malpractices are significantly associated with many argumentative pregnancies as well as developmental consequences leading to the direction of infant and maternal mortality and morbidity and urgent implementation of health and nutrition education programs considering food misconceptions and beliefs regarding pregnancy could also serve as a long-term solution to the problem.
Pregnancy Craving and Pica: 60 Years Later
TLDR
Food craving during the third trimester of pregnancy has remained constant for almost 60 years, although the items craved have changed.
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