{"id":6094,"date":"2021-03-16T15:02:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T15:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/?p=6094"},"modified":"2023-03-17T15:00:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T15:00:30","slug":"could-eating-dates-help-ease-natural-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/could-eating-dates-help-ease-natural-labour","title":{"rendered":"Could eating dates help ease natural labour?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stuffed dates with nut butter and mixed seeds. The most simple and delicious snack. Rumour has it they could even help promote natural labour too&#8230;but what does the science say?<\/p>\n<p>A real treat for your microbes too with a prebiotic boost. Slice to open, stuff with nut butter (choose your favourite or mix it up, but I love them with smooth almond or cashew butter) and sprinkle mixed seeds for extra crunch and fibre.<\/p>\n<p>For an extra indulgent feel, make them toffee-like and pop them in the freezer overnight&#8230; so good with a drizzle of melted 70% dark chocolate over them too.<\/p>\n<p>These have been a weekly staple for me and bub over the last few months! So I&#8217;ve been reading up on the latest studies too&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Research has actually shown eating dates during the last few weeks of pregnancy can help to induce and ease natural labour &#8211; as well as speed up labour time.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One study found women eating 6 dates a day (approx. 60-70g\/ day) for 4 weeks before their due date were 20% more likely to go into labour naturally and were in labour for significantly less time than those who didn&#8217;t eat them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Another study (154 pregnant women) observed that those who ate dates were much less likely to be induced compared to those who didn&#8217;t.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ed0556;\"><strong>How?<\/strong><\/span> It&#8217;s thought to be likely due to chemicals in dates that can mimic the effects of oxytocin in the body &#8211; that&#8217;s the hormone that causes labour contractions.<\/p>\n<p>They also contain tannins, which are thought to help with contractions too, and they&#8217;re a good source of natural sugars, among other nutrients for keeping energy levels up during labour.<\/p>\n<p>More research needs to be done before we start prescribing them from 37 weeks &#8211; but for now, I&#8217;ll be enjoying extra dates just in case.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stuffed dates with nut butter and mixed seeds. The most simple and delicious snack. Rumour has it they could even help promote natural labour too&#8230;but what does the science say? A real treat for your microbes too with a prebiotic boost. Slice to open, stuff with nut butter (choose your favourite or mix it up,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-or-nutrition","category-myth-busting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Could eating dates help ease natural labour? | The Gut Health Doctor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We know that dates are delicious, but do their powers go beyond taste? 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