Pregnancy food - Dates

 

There is apparently some ancient wisdom that a pregnant woman should eat dates to have an easier labor and delivery. I'm always so skeptical of old-wives tale type recommendations; I was amused to see that this one might be true. This study, published in the Journal of Obstetrics, puts dates to the test. 69 women ate 6 dates a day for 4 weeks before their estimated due date. 45 women were the control and did not. They found: 

• The women who ate dates had a higher average cervical dialtion when they first entered the hospital (3.5 cm compared to 2.2 cm)
• A larger portion of date-eating women had their membranes intact upon coming into the hospital (83% compared to 60%).
• More women who ate dates went into labor spontaneously (96% compared to 79%)
• The use of Pitocin was lower with woman that ate dates (28 % compared to 47%)
• The average length of the first stage of labor was shorter for women that ate dates (shorter by 6.5 hours).

What is the mechanism?  Apparently dates have a compound that mimics oxytocin, which is the hormone that causes contractions.

I probably will be trying this in 5 months. Seems like an easy thing to do, especially because I like dates.