Healthwise
Maternal and nutrition experts have debunked the widespread belief that eating okro or drinking okro water, particularly in the third trimester, can make labour and delivery easier for pregnant women.
They stressed that the claim is a myth with no scientific backing, noting that while okro is nutritious, it has never been proven to ease childbirth.
A Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Dr Stanley Egbogu, told PUNCH Healthwise that okro consumption in pregnancy cannot aid delivery.
“There is no documented evidence that eating okra in the last trimester helps make labour easy,” Egbogu said. “People believe it, particularly in the villages, but it remains a myth.”
He noted, however, that okro remains a nutritious vegetable and advised pregnant women to focus instead on proven methods such as mild exercises—especially walking—which have been shown to support easier labour. He added that water birth, though uncommon in Nigeria, has also been documented to reduce labour pain.
Similarly, a registered nutritionist, Mrs Yemisi Solanke-Lawal, agreed that there is no evidence linking okro consumption to easier birthing. She explained that while the vegetable is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and folate— all beneficial in pregnancy—its role in labour remains unproven.
According to maternal health resource birthingbalance.com, a serving of okro provides about 15 per cent of a woman’s daily folate requirement but does not contain folic acid.
Solanke-Lawal added that having lived in China—where reliance on herbal and natural remedies is widespread—she would have observed such effects if they were real.
She emphasised that pregnant women should incorporate vegetables like okro in the right quantities as part of a balanced diet, but cautioned against relying on unverified claims.
Okro, she noted, is known to help regulate blood sugar in people living with diabetes, but its benefits do not extend to easing labour.
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