Even after getting lambasted for asking pregnant women to not eat non-vegetarian food and not to have sex, the Union AYUSH ministry has defended the move and said, “It aims to take the well-known health benefits of yoga and naturopathy to expecting and new mothers.”
It was merely a suggestion that was blown out of proportion, said Union minister of state for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik, to THE WEEK, “My ministry has already issued a clarification on the matter. The chapter is now closed.”
The clarification from the ministry on June 14 claimed that it did not recommend ‘no sex’ after conception. Read the clarification, “This is far from the truth. In fact, the words ‘no sex’ do not feature at all in the booklet.”
Said the clarification, “The publication has been in distribution through the units of the erstwhile Department of AYUSH and Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy since 2013.”
Clarifying more, the ministry said, “Many new mothers and families have appreciated that information relevant to the different phases of pregnancy has been made available in a simple format in the booklet.”
The ministry of AYUSH was created on November, 9, 2014.
Some allopathy doctors and health professionals have criticised the booklet—Mother and Child Care—for giving unscientific recommendations to expectant and new mothers. It was distributed at an event to celebrate the run-up to International Yoga Day on June 21.
Around 40 per cent of women in India, who begin their pregnancies, it is said, are underweight. A study conducted by the National Family Health Survey in 2015 found out that nine out of ten women in India are protein-deficient. The consumption of meat during pregnancy, doctors say, will help women acquire necessary proteins required by the body during the time.
