Craving sweets during pregnancy: Why does it happen

Pregnancy cravings are incredibly common. They often appear among the earliest pregnancy signs and affect over 70% of women. Cravings can come in all shapes and kinds. Yet, craving sweets during pregnancy is one of the most common types, with 49% of pregnant women reporting it.

Pregnant women may have a sweet tooth for a number of reasons, including:

• Increased energy needs
• Hormonal shifts
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Psychological factors

Regardless of the cause, it’s absolutely normal to crave something sweet. Moreover, it’s often recommended to satisfy your pregnancy cravings. But it’s important to do it wisely and avoid excessive sugar intake.

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Pregnancy is an exciting journey, which, however, puts a lot of tension and stress on your body and mind. When your body accommodates a baby, it needs to work more intensively to provide nutrients to the fetus and support its growth. Often, due to this reason, as well as due to hormonal shifts, emotional tension, and increased energy intake, your body might start demanding certain foods. This phenomenon is known as pregnancy food cravings, and it’s a common pregnancy symptom.

Although food cravings can vary significantly from one woman to another, craving sweets during pregnancy is one of the most common types. In this article, we’ll explore what can make you want to eat sweets, what it means, and what you should do about it.

Understanding Food Cravings in Pregnancy

Food cravings are among the most common pregnancy symptoms. According to studies, 75.40% of pregnant women experience it.

Specialists emphasize that multiple factors can affect food cravings. First and foremost, it can arise from hormonal shifts and big internal changes, such as blood sugar changes. Heightened senses due to progesterone and estrogen can intensify your taste and smell, making you crave certain types of foods and feel sick from others. And lastly, there might be open nutritional needs that can make your body demand certain foods to make up for nutrient deficiencies.

It’s possible to have very different cravings. The most common cravings among pregnant women include

• Meat and protein
• Dairy
• Vegetables and fruits
• Gluten
• Spicy food
• Peanut butter

When Do Pregnancy Cravings Start?

So, different types of pregnancy cravings are very common. But when can you start feeling them?

There is no general rule. Every woman might experience pregnancy cravings differently and at different times. However, often, food cravings are considered some of the earliest pregnancy signs because they start early in the first trimester. They can show as early as 5 weeks and become more prominent as your pregnancy progresses. But it’s also okay if you don’t experience them or have very mild cravings.

Is Craving Sweets During Pregnancy Normal?

Yes. Craving sweets during pregnancy is absolutely normal. In fact, surveys among pregnant women show that the majority of women (49%) report craving sweets. That is, this form of pregnancy craving isn’t just normal, but also incredibly common.

What Can Make You Crave Sweets in Pregnancy?

If you start craving sweets during pregnancy, it can result from a number of factors:

Increased Energy Needs

When you get pregnant, your body starts working more than it used to before pregnancy. Now, it needs to support not only its own functioning, but also facilitate fetal growth and development. To do this, it needs more energy (aka calories), and it’s one of the primary reasons why you might develop a sweet tooth.

Research suggests that your typical energy needs increase by around 15 kcal per day per week. If you fail to make up for this deficit, your body might start signaling that it lacks energy. That’s when it may demand you to eat something sweet because sugar provides many calories and gives a rapid energy surge.

Hormonal Shifts

When you conceive, your normal hormonal balance changes rapidly. The placenta starts producing human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and progesterone production will continue increasing (instead of dropping to trigger menstruation). These hormonal shifts may also cause you to crave sweets. Not without a reason, sugar craving is a common phenomenon in PMS when your progesterone peaks or in women who have conditions like PCOS, which cause hormonal imbalance.

Nutrient Deficiencies

As was mentioned earlier, sometimes, food cravings in pregnancy can signal that your body lacks some essential nutrients that are needed to support your health and your baby’s growth. This might be the reason why you are craving sweets during pregnancy, especially if you feel a strong desire to eat particular types of sweets:

• If you want chocolate, it could be a signal that your body has a Magnesium deficiency. Also, it could indicate increased stress levels and a need for antioxidants.
• If you want ice cream, yogurt, or other sweet dairy products, it could mean that you need more calcium.
• Strong craving for sweetened carbonated drinks may indicate a Calcium or Magnesium deficiency.
• If you want to eat fruits, there might be deficiencies in essential vitamins, fiber, or antioxidants.
• A general craving for sugary foods could also mean a need for more B vitamins, a lack of energy, or dehydration.

Psychological Factors

When you’re pregnant, it’s not unnatural to experience stress and anxiety. You might feel worried about your first ultrasound, have concerns about your baby’s health, and even stress about the upcoming motherhood. All of this is normal. Still, increased stress levels could feel rather discomforting. And this might be another cause of a sweet tooth.

According to studies, sweet foods have been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological impact of stress. That’s why it’s common to crave sugar and sweets when you are stressed.

Craving Sweets During Pregnancy Girl or Boy

Now that you know about some scientific reasons why you might be craving sweets during pregnancy, let’s address one of the most common pregnancy myths out there – the supposed connection between your pregnancy cravings and your baby’s gender.

The old wives’ tales say that you can potentially predict the gender of the baby, based on the following cravings:

If it’s a boy, you could crave savory foods, such as:

• Pickles
• Meat
• Spicy foods
• Pizza
• Cheese, etc.

On the contrary, if it’s a girl, you could crave sweet foods, such as:

• Fruit
• Chocolate
• Juices
• Candy
• Cake, etc.

Based on these assumptions, you could think that craving sweets during pregnancy ultimately means that you’re having a girl. But in reality, it’s just a myth. At the moment, there is no scientific proof that your cravings are connected with the baby’s sex in any way. In contrast, cravings are mainly linked to hormonal shifts and the unique nutritional needs of your body.

Craving Fruit and Sweets During Pregnancy: What You Should and Shouldn’t Do

Now that you know that sweet cravings are normal and common, let’s take a moment to talk about what you should do about them.

First of all, satisfy your cravings. Cravings are a normal part of being pregnant. However, while they might appear out of the blue, simply due to psychological or hormonal reasons, they might also signal something else. It might be your body’s way to say that there is something (energy, nutrients, etc.) it's currently missing. That’s why it’s important to satisfy them.

Besides, there are typically no risks to you or your baby if you satisfy your cravings. Controlled studies show that food cravings don’t usually impact overall dietary intake or cause excessive gestational weight gain. But, of course, it all depends on how you satisfy your cravings and what diet you follow the rest of the time. So another thing you should do is focus on your and your baby’s health. Satisfy your cravings wisely and maintain an overall healthy diet.

This logically brings us to the next important matter – what you shouldn’t do about your cravings. If you are craving sweets during pregnancy, most importantly, don’t eat too many of them. Excessive consumption of sugar and sweets can potentially lead to excessive weight gain and the development of certain complications, such as gestational diabetes. So, while you satisfy your cravings, make sure that you don’t eat only sweets and keep the amount of sugar controlled.

FAQ

Why am I craving sweets during pregnancy?

This is a rather common type of pregnancy craving, so it shouldn’t be a cause for concern. Your body might demand sugary and sweet foods due to increased energy needs and hormonal shifts. In some cases, this type of craving can also indicate some nutrient deficiencies or even stress.

Is it okay if I’m not craving sweets during pregnancy?

Absolutely! According to surveys, 49% of women report craving sweets during pregnancy. This is the biggest indicator compared to other types of pregnancy cravings, which means that it’s rather common. However, not craving sweets during pregnancy is also absolutely normal. You may crave other types of food, such as meat, dairy, and others. Or you may not experience cravings at all. Every pregnancy is different.

What if I only crave sweets during pregnancy?

If this happens, you need to focus on ensuring a healthy and balanced diet. Although it’s generally recommended to satisfy your food cravings from time to time, eating sweets alone can have numerous risks, including excessive weight gain and gestational diabetes. You need proper nutrition to ensure your and your baby’s health.

Conclusion

As you now know, craving sweets during pregnancy is absolutely normal and very common. It can be your body’s response to increased energy expenditure or hormonal changes. Or it might just be your way to deal with pregnancy-related stress.

In any case, you can satisfy your sweet tooth from time to time. However, you should also eat a balanced and nutritious diet to prevent the negative impact of sugar and support your health.

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