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Want a safer pregnancy? Tell her to swallow.
Oral sex makes pregnancies safer and more successful - study
New research suggests oral sex may not only help a woman conceive but may make her pregnancy safer and more successful.
The Australian study found that semen contains a growth factor which helps persuade a mother's immune system to accept sperm.
It claims to have found evidence that regular exposure before pregnancy, especially by mouth, helps her immune system get used to her partner's sperm.
Disorders during pregnancy often stem from the battle between the immune system and the foetus as a 'foreign body'.
Many of its 'foreign' proteins come courtesy of the father's genes so if the mother is regularly exposed to them her body is more likely to accept them.
Professor Gustaaf Dekker, from the University of Adelaide, said: "If there's repeated exposure to that signal then eventually when the woman conceives, her cells will say, 'we know that guy, he's been around a long time, we'll allow the pregnancy to continue."
New Scientist reports that Professor Dekker compared 41 pregnant women with pre-eclampsia, a condition where the mother's blood pressure soars during pregnancy, and 44 without.
He found 82% of those without the condition practised fellatio - only 44% of those with it did.
He says the protective effect was strongest if the woman swallowed the semen.
Now, when advising couples who have difficulty carrying pregnancies to full term, he says: "I tell them, 'semen exposure's good, and you could think of oral sex'."
New research suggests oral sex may not only help a woman conceive but may make her pregnancy safer and more successful.
The Australian study found that semen contains a growth factor which helps persuade a mother's immune system to accept sperm.
It claims to have found evidence that regular exposure before pregnancy, especially by mouth, helps her immune system get used to her partner's sperm.
Disorders during pregnancy often stem from the battle between the immune system and the foetus as a 'foreign body'.
Many of its 'foreign' proteins come courtesy of the father's genes so if the mother is regularly exposed to them her body is more likely to accept them.
Professor Gustaaf Dekker, from the University of Adelaide, said: "If there's repeated exposure to that signal then eventually when the woman conceives, her cells will say, 'we know that guy, he's been around a long time, we'll allow the pregnancy to continue."
New Scientist reports that Professor Dekker compared 41 pregnant women with pre-eclampsia, a condition where the mother's blood pressure soars during pregnancy, and 44 without.
He found 82% of those without the condition practised fellatio - only 44% of those with it did.
He says the protective effect was strongest if the woman swallowed the semen.
Now, when advising couples who have difficulty carrying pregnancies to full term, he says: "I tell them, 'semen exposure's good, and you could think of oral sex'."
Correlation between oral sex and a low incidence of preeclampsia: a role for soluble HLA in seminal fluid?
The involvement of immune mechanisms in the aetiology of preeclampsia is often suggested. Normal pregnancy is thought to be associated with a state of tolerance to the foreign antigens of the fetus, whereas in preeclamptic women this immunological tolerance might be hampered. The present study shows that oral sex and swallowing sperm is correlated with a diminished occurrence of preeclampsia which fits in the existing idea that a paternal factor is involved in the occurrence of preeclampsia. Because pregnancy has many similarities with transplantation, we hypothesize that induction of allogeneic tolerance to the paternal HLA molecules of the fetus may be crucial. Recent data suggest that exposure, and especially oral exposure to soluble HLA (sHLA) or HLA derived peptides can lead to transplantation tolerance. Similarly, sHLA antigens, that are present in the seminal plasma, might cause tolerance in the mother to paternal antigens. In order to test whether this indeed may be the case, we investigated whether sHLA antigens are present in seminal plasma. Using a specific ELISA we detected sHLA class I molecules in seminal plasma. The level varied between individuals and was related to the level in plasma. Further studies showed that these sHLA class I molecules included classical HLA class I alleles, such as sHLA-A2, -B7, -B51, -B35 and sHLA-A9. Preliminary data show lower levels of sHLA in seminal plasma in the preeclampsia group, although not significantly different from the control group. An extension of the present study is necessary to verify this hypothesis.
The involvement of immune mechanisms in the aetiology of preeclampsia is often suggested. Normal pregnancy is thought to be associated with a state of tolerance to the foreign antigens of the fetus, whereas in preeclamptic women this immunological tolerance might be hampered. The present study shows that oral sex and swallowing sperm is correlated with a diminished occurrence of preeclampsia which fits in the existing idea that a paternal factor is involved in the occurrence of preeclampsia. Because pregnancy has many similarities with transplantation, we hypothesize that induction of allogeneic tolerance to the paternal HLA molecules of the fetus may be crucial. Recent data suggest that exposure, and especially oral exposure to soluble HLA (sHLA) or HLA derived peptides can lead to transplantation tolerance. Similarly, sHLA antigens, that are present in the seminal plasma, might cause tolerance in the mother to paternal antigens. In order to test whether this indeed may be the case, we investigated whether sHLA antigens are present in seminal plasma. Using a specific ELISA we detected sHLA class I molecules in seminal plasma. The level varied between individuals and was related to the level in plasma. Further studies showed that these sHLA class I molecules included classical HLA class I alleles, such as sHLA-A2, -B7, -B51, -B35 and sHLA-A9. Preliminary data show lower levels of sHLA in seminal plasma in the preeclampsia group, although not significantly different from the control group. An extension of the present study is necessary to verify this hypothesis.
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