Can acupuncture help women with morning sickness? Research appearing in Birth (March 2002; 29(1):1-9) tested the efficacy of acupuncture for treating nausea early in pregnancy. Subjects of the study were 593 women who were less than 14 weeks pregnant. They were randomly divided into three groups. One group received acupuncture (at pericardium 6). One group received “sham” acupuncture (superficial needling at points that are not acupuncture points). A third group acted as controls, and received no needling whatsoever. Women who received acupuncture experienced less nausea from the second week of the trial when compared to the control group. They experienced less dry heaving compared to the controls after the third week of treatment. Women in the sham acupuncture group also fared better than the control group. There was no difference in the amount of vomiting experienced by any of the groups.