It may be a symptom that hormones are circulating, indicative of a healthy pregnancy. It may also protect the mother and child from dangerous food. "[A]n evolutionary theory advanced several years ago by two Cornell scientists -- Dr. Paul W. Sherman, an evolutionary biologist, and Samuel M. Flaxman, then a graduate student -- suggests that the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy evolved to prevent exposure to potentially harmful infectious and toxic organisms in foods, especially during the time that fetal organ systems are developing. They suggested renaming the condition ''wellness insurance.'"
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