We spoke with Dr Yip Swee Lin, a Consultant from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH). 

While a 2016 study shows that there’s no set reason as to why pregnancy cravings occur, Dr Yip has some ideas.

“The majority of pregnant women have food cravings during pregnancy. Some may crave foods that they usually like or even foods that they do not normally like. This could be due to the change in a woman’s palate and sense of smell in pregnancy. Some pregnant women (also) love stronger tastes.”

Speaking of craving food you don’t normally go for, Rihanna falls into this category. She usually hates desserts. But during her pregnancy, she’s craving chocolate-covered doughnuts.

If you’re craving food during pregnancy, is it a clue that your body needs a certain mineral? The answer, according to Dr Yip, is no.

“A majority of studies found that sweets, high-fat foods and fast foods were the most commonly craved foods during pregnancy, whereas cravings for fruits and vegetables were rarely reported.” Logically, if your body needed minerals or vitamins, you’d crave fresh fruit or vegetables or fish… not doughnuts.

The theory is that pregnancy is a rollercoaster of emotions. A woman may crave fast food or pizza for emotional reasons – to reward herself,  comfort herself or treat herself.

And if you worry how the cravings can affect your health,  studies find you that while pregnancy cravings do “contribute to a small increase in energy intake” they usually don’t cause excessive gestational weight gain, maternal glycaemia or affect the size of the baby.

Food cravings are the norm, but sometimes women feel the need to consume non-food substances such as chalk, clay or ice. This is called pica. While it often begins from early childhood, pica can also develop in expecting mothers.

“Pica is a medical term that comes from the Latin name for magpie, a bird that is said to eat almost anything. It is a medical disorder where the pregnant woman develops an appetite for non-nutritive substances, and it tends to have a psychological origin,” says Dr Yip.

As one might expect, eating inedible matters isn’t the best thing for the body. This research highlights some of the adverse side effects such a diet may cause. 

For example, eating clay can replace other nutritive sources of food, leading to iron deficiency anaemia. White clay can also cause constipation in high amounts. Eating lots of ice can cause iron deficiency and reduce the absorption of nutrients into the gut. 

Other side effects of eating non-foods can include lead poisoning, parasitic infection, metabolic disturbances, and more, depending on what is being consumed. 

Aside from craving desserts, Rihanna has also been craving tangerine citrus fruits – but she says she wants to eat the fruits sprinkled with salt.  It sounds weird, but in Barbados, where she grew up, it is normal to take fruits and clean them by soaking them in the ocean.

So Rihanna’s craving may have more to do with her emotions, than her tastebuds. Some women might find it emotionally comforting to eat foods from childhood when they are pregnant. Maybe eating that feed makes them feel safe or comforted.

But it’s not the same for everyone. 

Says Dr Yip, “pregnancy cravings are unrelated to childhood foods. In fact, some pregnant women may crave foods that they never wanted to eat before, due to the changes in their palate and sense of smell in pregnancy.” 

In 2020, Mandy Moore said she found herself unable to drink coffee when she was pregnant. Yet before her pregnancy, she loved coffee so much “I used to dream about coffee before bed”. 

Popular Hong Kong actress Linda Chung is now pregnant with her third child in 2022. She says she’s eating well – but during her last pregnancy, she said she felt nauseated if she even smelt pasta or meat.

But Dr Yip assures us that such “food aversions” aren’t anything to be worried about. They’re just a side effect of the surging hormones in your body. These increase your sense of smell and taste to crazy levels so a smell that was pleasant before, is now overpowering. 

“Food aversion is common in pregnancy. It’s likely caused by the hormonal changes experienced by  pregnant women that also lead to nausea and vomiting.”

You may have heard that craving citrus foods mean that you will give birth to a baby girl, or that craving salty foods mean you will have a boy while sweet cravings mean you’ll have a girl.

There’s no evidence this is true one way or the other. It can certainly be fun to speculate and indulge in these tales, but the only real way to access your baby’s gender is to go for a sonogram. 

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