Although there is no hard evidence spicy food can induce labour, some pregnant women in North Carolina believe pizza is the answer.
Several women have ordered the Buffalo Wing Pizza at Hawthorne’s New York Pizza & Bar in Charlotte, and have given birth shortly after.
In April, the pizza joint posted a photo of some of these new moms on Instagram, jokingly calling it, “The Inducer.”
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“Thank you to all the moms who have come from all over to give this magical little trick a try! We wish you luck,” the restaurant wrote.
The moms who say it works
Pediatric nurse Henley Schmiedel says she ate the spicy pizza at 7:30 p.m. on March 31, and by 11:30 p.m., her water had broke.
Schmiedel says two of her other friends went into labour after eating the pizza, and one night, she decided to give it a try herself.
“I had extra fluid in my pregnancy and I was just borderline miserable,” she says. “I told my friends, ‘I want the baby this weekend,’ and I said, ‘What do we have to lose?’ I ate it and sent them a picture the next morning.”
Prior to this, Schmiedel says she didn’t try any other old wives’ tales, except a few massages.
“I truly was not a believer in any of this stuff.”
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Ali Aldrich, another Charlotte mom told People when she was 38-and-a-half weeks pregnant, she was doing anything and everything to go into labour. Her husband had suggested she try the Buffalo Wing Pizza — it worked.
“I had always heard spicy foods could do it, so we ordered the pizza at 6 p.m. and by 10 that night, I was in labour,” she told the magazine.
At first, Aldrich thought it was a coincidence, but her neighbour tried the pizza a few weeks later with similar results.
The pizza joint is posting other families with successful results.
Labour-inducing food
Registered dietitian Abby Langer says although this is happening to several women, there really isn’t any evidence out there that spicy food can induce labour.
“It’s probably just a happy coincidence,” she tells Global News. “It’s an old wives’ tale that has coincidentally been working for several women who ate at the same pizza joint around the same time.”
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Langer says she has also heard raspberry leaf tea, castor oil and pineapple can work.
“I ate an entire pineapple the day before my due date and I woke up the next day in labour… I really don’t think it was the pineapple though, just for the record,” she says.
According to a 2014 study published in The Journal of Perinatal Education, the most common labour inducers included walking, breaking of the water and sexual intercourse.
What’s in this pizza?
Hawthorne’s NY Pizza & Bar owners Michael Adams, John Adams and Carlo Martinez told ABC news last week there are “pregnant women galore” running to their restaurant. In total, nine women went into labour after eating The Inducer.
“I think we have a total of nine now in about 21 days since we first heard about it from one of the first moms. We’re using that as our timeline,” Adams said.
The owners note their pizza is a mix of cheese and chicken, but it is their secret homemade sauce that is the true inducer.
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