- The country’s Government announced the bizarre official guidance last week
- Doctors say the advice is dangerous considering India’s poor maternal health
- They also warn it ignores accepted medical evidence that says the opposite
Stephen Matthews For Mailonline
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Associated Press
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Controversial official Indian advice that pregnant women should shun meat, eggs and lust thoughts has been ridiculed by experts.
The country’s Government announced the bizarre new guidance last week, but fury has emerged among the medical community.
Doctors say the advice is preposterous, and even dangerous, considering India’s already-poor record with maternal health.
They also warn it ignores widely accepted medical evidence that pregnant women benefit from eating protein-rich meats and can safely engage in sex.
Indian Government announced the bizarre new guidance for pregnant women last week, but fury has emerged among the medical community
‘Absurd advice’
Arun Gadre, a gynaecologist based in the city of Pune, lambasted the advice issued by a branch of the country’s traditional and alternative medicine ministry (AYUSH).
She told AP: ‘The Government is doling out unscientific and irrational advice, instead of ensuring that poor pregnant women get to eat a nutritious, high-protein diet.
‘This is a national shame. If the calories of expectant mothers are further reduced by asking them to shun meat and eggs, this situation will only worsen.
‘This is absurd advice to be giving to pregnant women in a country like India.’
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Amit Sengupta, a physician and health care activist with the Delhi Science Forum, a public advocacy organization, also attacked the guidance.
He said the Government’s advice to pregnant women showed ‘backward thinking’ and hostility toward evidence-based science.
Mr Sengupta added: ‘This kind of advice is detrimental to women’s health.’
INDIA’S MATERNAL DEATH RATES
Malnutrition and anaemia, or iron deficiency, are key factors behind India’s having one of the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality.
Some 174 of every 100,000 pregnancies resulted in the mother’s death in 2015, national figures showed.
In comparison, in the UK, where women are actively encouraged to eat meat, the rate is much lower, UNICEF says.
About a third of India’s 1.3 billion population, of which most are traditionally patriarchal, struggle to live on less than £1.58 ($2) a day.
Many are lucky to eat more than one full meal a day, and women often give their portions up to their hungry children or husbands.
Malnourished women are more likely to give birth to underweight babies, who then are in danger of being ‘stunted’ or not growing to their full height and weight.
A full 48 per cent of all Indian children under the age of 5 are considered stunted, according to a 2015 report by UNICEF.
Among the strange guidance issued by the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy included shunning ‘impure thoughts’.
Pictures of beautiful babies
The official arm of AYUSH instead now encourages pregnant women to look at pictures of beautiful babies to benefit the foetus.
The booklet, titled Mother and Child Care, reads: ‘Pregnant women should detach themselves from desire, anger, attachment, hatred and lust.’
Shripad Naik, minister of AYUSH, defended the booklet as containing ‘wisdom accumulated over many centuries’, and said it did not advise specifically against sex, only against all thoughts of desire or lust.
He said: ‘The booklet puts together relevant facts culled out from clinical practice in the fields of yoga and naturopathy.’
Government’s latest push
The guidance is the latest push for vegetarianism by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government, which already advocates avoiding beef.
It also strictly limits the transportation and slaughter of cows, which are considered sacred by Hindus.
However, the advice is unlikely to be followed at the many government-run health centers across India which are operated by the Health Ministry.
In the past, both they, which follow more scientific practices, and the traditional medicine ministry have conflicted over various debates.
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