Researching all the scary things that can happen to a fetus may not seem like the best idea for a pregnant woman. But when New York science writer Annie Murphy Paul was pregnant with her second son, she had a personal stake in the emerging field of “fetal origins.”
Her new book, Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives, explores the effects of factors such as a mother’s diet as well as major events such as war and famine – even 9/11.
Case in point: It appears that the children of Manhattan women who experienced post-traumatic stress disorder after the Twin Towers fell were vulnerable to suffering from PTSD themselves. It didn’t matter whether their fathers did or did not have PTSD. It was all about the womb.
How did you balance knowing too much with having to live your life while you worked on this book?
I would just rather know – that’s how I deal with anxiety. ... The hardest part was when I was doing research for the chapter about chemical and drug exposures and I had to read about thalidomide and DES babies and look at pictures. There is this dread and this fear. Until you see your baby and you know it’s fine, there’s just so much that you don’t know.
What were some of your most surprising findings?
I was surprised that there was solid evidence that really traumatic stress or life-threatening stress can have an effect in all different kinds of contexts: natural disasters and wars and political violence. There was a lot of evidence this was harmful to the fetus. And then I was surprised and relieved to come across the evidence about how moderate stress can be beneficial to the fetus. I just love that research, the idea that fetuses need a little bit of pressure to do their best. It tones the nervous system of the fetus.
So many of the substances we assume to be villains are moving targets. New research this week suggests “light drinking” is okay for pregnant women.
So many things are moving targets. No one really has an overview of the whole field. I had a Google alert set up and I came to dread that little ping. More Google alerts ... I can’t keep up!
You portrayed the findings on eating fish to be pretty solid: eating lower down on the fish food chain is good.
But it’s still confusing to women. You hear about mercury and then women get scared to eat fish at all. But then you’re depriving the fetus of the beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids.
How new is the idea of fetal origins?
The idea that we’re shaped by experiences before birth is old and deeply entrenched. It was the scientific and medical culture of the 20th century that rejected that idea. ... [We’re] rediscovering it and putting it a scientific footing that it wasn’t on before.
The placenta was assumed to be super-strong and keep toxins out in the 1950s?
Mid-century doctors and scientists used the phrase “perfect parasite,” the idea that the fetus takes whatever it needs from the mother and isn’t really affected by what she eats.
But the new findings can mean that everything a pregnant woman does is under a microscope, can’t they?
I’m not saying don’t pay attention to this research and do whatever you want. ... Another trend I saw that disturbed me is whenever there’s new evidence that what a woman does during pregnancy affects her fetus, one reaction inevitably seems to be, let’s take control of what women do, let’s punish them for doing something bad.
You found that being poor increases your chances of drinking, smoking, having an inadequate diet, being exposed to toxins and suffering from depression.
