Food Cravings and Aversions during Pregnancy: A Current Snapshot

Food cravings are very common during pregnancy, along with food aversions in many instances, yet their underlying causes are not well understood. Food cravings are usually met with the consumption of the craved food, which generally include unhealthy foods, that is, sweet/fat and salty/spicy foods. It is important to follow a healthy diet during pregnancy in order to promote healthy outcomes for both mother and infant, but with the consumption of unhealthy craved foods a healthy diet may be difficult to maintain. The objective of this survey was to obtain a current snapshot of food cravings during pregnancy, while also comparing differences between cravers and non-cravers. The results showed that 59% of surveyed mothers had experienced cravings. Having food cravings were associated with greater weight gain during pregnancy, but also an increased intent to breastfeed. Sweets as a category, along with fruits and vegetables, were recorded as being the most craved foods. Cravers of sweets tended to be of normal weight and were likelier to have given birth to girls. In contrast, women that craved fruits and vegetables were likelier to be overweight, and were more likely to have given birth to boys. While reported by nearly one in four of the mothers who craved fruits and vegetables, pica, or the craving of non-food items, was nearly nonexistent among the sweet cravers. These 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.