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No meat or sex, only good thoughts: Ayush Ministry's to pregnant women

The recommendations are part of a mother and child care booklet released by Union Minister of AYUSH Shripad Naik at an event in the run-up to the International Yoga Day on June 21.

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Ayush Ministry has recommended pregnant women that they should avoid eating meat and abstain from sex after conception, if they want to have a healthy baby. 

The recommendations are part of a mother and child care booklet released by AYUSH Minister, Shripad Naik last week at an event in the run-up to the International Yoga Day on June 21. “Pregnant women should detach themselves from desire, anger, attachment, hatred and lust. Avoid bad company and be with the good people. Hang some good pictures in the bedroom which will give effect on the child also,” the booklet recommends promoting traditional healing practises.

The mother and child care booklet has been published by the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy under AYUSH Ministry. However, the booklet also emphasizes on healthy diet for pregnant women, the modern medicine gynaecologists claim that there is no scientific proof for the other “advisories” issued by the AYUSH Ministry.

 

A scanned image of the booklet

"In fact freshly cooked chicken and meat is a good source of protein during pregnancy. Non vegetarian protein is high class protein and non vegetarian iron gets very easily absorbed. Especially in India we have anaemic women hence we recommend them to start eating egg as the protein is well absorbed and it will provide nourishment to her and the baby. Iron from vegetarian sources is less absorbed by our body than non vegetarian sources,” said Dr Nikita Trehan, senior Gynaecologist at Sunrise hospitals, South Delhi.
 
“And only if the woman suffers from placenta previa (complication in which the placenta is inserted partially or wholly in the lower uterine segment), or certain high risk pregnancy, we advise the women not to have sex. In normal pregnancy on an average 90 per cent women have no problem in having sex,” she said.
 
On similar lines, a 2012 study published in Health Science Journal revealed that as long as no health issues are involved, sexual intercourse during pregnancy is safe. Yet another study done by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) published in Journal of International Medical Sciences Academy (JIMSA) states that anaemia during pregnancy can be managed by diets including some animal foods like meat, fish and ascorbic acid which increase the iron absorption.
 
AYUSH Ministry officials have said that that the booklet is only a ‘suggestion’ and not ‘prescription’. 
“The booklet was published three years ago and it is a compilation of yoga practices that are believed to help pregnant women. The Booklet does not contain any advice on abstaining from sex. The booklet has a list of items that it believes pregnant women should steer clear of such as tea, coffee, sugar, white flour products, garam masala, fried and oily items, egg and non-veg etc,” said the AYUSH Minister Naik.
 
“The booklet puts together relevant facts culled out from clinical practice in the fields of yoga and naturopathy. It also contains wisdom accumulated over many centuries of yogic practice," Naik said.

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