Pregnant women often crave the strangest food (and non-food) items. Image courtesy of: Monkey business images/rexfeatures
A poll of 400 women by EcigaretteDirect.co.uk revealed some of their most strangest cravings whilst being pregnant.
One of the women surveyed admitted to regularly licking cigarette ash and said she has no idea where the craving came from.
"I found myself looking at a full ashtray one evening and thinking, ‘I wouldn’t mind a dab of the ash'”
“My husband was a smoker and whilst I’m a non-smoker I found myself looking at a full ashtray one evening and thinking, ‘I wouldn’t mind a dab of the ash,’” she said. “It sounds disgusting and looking back I can’t believe it, but at the time it really did hit the spot.”
A spokesman from ECigaretteDirect.co.uk said the findings went way beyond ‘unusual’ into the downright bizarre.
He said: “Pregnant women are known to crave unusual items, many of which they rarely ate before becoming pregnant but some of the demands the women revealed are truly bizarre.
“The most striking were the non-food items such as cigarette ash, chalk and toothpaste and polystyrene – none of which anybody would typically eat or even taste.”
There are many reasons why pregnant women are said to crave unusual foods and food combinations including nutrient deficiency and hormonal changes.
The spokesman added: “It was interesting to note that all of the foods which made the list had particularly strong and distinctive tastes and were often totally different to the expectant mothers’ typical diet.
“As long as expectant mothers maintain a healthy diet then why not tuck into an unusual treat if it satisfies a craving?”
Alongside cigarette ash, among the ten most weird and wacky cravings were ice, polystyrene, chalk, chilli, liquorice, sardines, soap, horseradish and grapefruit.
FemaleFirst
Shabana Adam