Now there are so many old wives tales and information flooding the media that people should or should not eat this or that, and not more so than Women during Pregnancy. But there is one specific food which I get asked about so regularly that I need to write about it. That's Papaya, is it Safe?

There have been many research projects into the effects of foods on pregnent women and papaya is no exception, click the link on the right to see the official British journal of nutrition report on Papaya.

Now The problem with Papaya is that in an unripe state the Papaya contains high concentrations of a Latex, this latex concentration reduces upon ripening and once completely ripe has almost no latex left.

The Papaya latex's main constitiuants are papain and chymopapain which have teratogenic (abnormalities of physiological development) and abortifacient (Can induce an abortion) effects . It does this by increasing the chances of uterine contractions as the papain acts like prostaglandin and oxytocin which are known to put a mothers body into labour and hence an adverse effect on the babies and mothers health.

The Latex can also cause marked oedema and haemorrhagic placentas which are bleeding and hemorrhaging from the edge of the placenta, this can result in severe complications in pregnancy and normally an early delivery.

To sum up is is advised that women in pregnency do NOT eat raw papaya for the added risk of complications, however it is perfectly safe for them to eat a fully ripened Papaya as the concentrations of Papaya Latex is so small.