Does Pineapple Induce Labor?

If you are past your due date you may be looking for some ideas to get labor going. There are some foods that have properties in them that are known for helping prepare your body for labor and even sometimes inducing labor. Pineapples are one type of food that may help your body ready for labor. Tropical fruits like pineapples, mangoes, and papaya contain enzymes known as proteolytic enzymes. What these enzymes do for your body is they help break down protein.

While they function to break down proteins, they have also been used for all kinds of natural remedies such as anti-inflammatories and aiding digestion. Their digestive properties may help explain how they can induce labor. Sometimes foods that cause the bowels to move can stimulate contractions. This is because your intestines and uterus are both made up of smooth muscles. If the smooth muscles of your intestines start to move or contract, this can carry over to your uterus and stimulate contractions.

Bromelain, a specific type of proteolytic enzyme found in pineapple, may also help with softening the cervix. In order for a woman to go into labor, her cervix needs to efface and dilate (or thin out and open up). The softening of her cervix helps to prepare the body for labor and in this way pineapples may help to induce labor. Eating pineapples, however, may not have immediate results but it is a natural way to prepare the body for labor though.

If you want to try to induce labor naturally or just help get your body ready for labor by eating pineapples, make sure that you are eating fresh pineapples. The canning process destroys most of the enzymes and won’t have the same affect. Also know that the core is the richest in bromelain.