DAYTON, Ohio (Cox News Service) -- Pregnant women hear about all kinds of folk remedies for triggering labor, ranging from spicy foods to sex to herbal teas to enemas (presumably not all in the same evening).

Some of those old wives' tales just might work - but that doesn't mean moms-to-be should try them, an Ohio State University researcher says.

For healthy pregnancies, "Mother Nature is the best obstetrician," said Dr. Jonathan Schaffir, a clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at OSU who conducted a survey of 102 pregnant women about their labor-inducing beliefs.

Schaffir circulated questionnaires in waiting rooms of the OSU Medical Center prenatal clinic and in three Columbus-area health clinics during December 2000 asking pregnant women whether they had heard of selected folk remedies for inducing labor and whether they believed those suggestions worked.

The remedies included frequent walking, having sex, exercising heavily, using a laxative, stimulating the nipples, eating spicy foods, having an enema, fasting and drinking herbal tea.

A few such folk remedies have some basis in science, but others can be dangerous to the mother or the fetus, or to both, Schaffir said in an article detailing his findings in the March issue of the journal Birth.

The survey found that two out of three pregnant women believed that walking would help induce labor, while nearly half believed having sex would help trigger childbirth.

The "walking" remedy probably stems from the advice doctors give to women in the early stages of labor who have come to the hospital well before delivery, Schaffir said in an interview. The walking can make pregnant moms whose labor has already started more comfortable, but there's no real evidence it can induce labor, he said.

The idea that having sex might trigger contractions and start labor has some biological basis because semen contains substances similar to those used in labor-inducing drugs, Schaffir said. But there have been cases in which the contractions that began after a pregnant woman had sex were so strong they adversely affected the fetal heartbeat, the researcher said. Since no studies have been conducted as to whether having sex actually triggers labor or whether the practice is safe, Schaffir doesn't recommend it solely as a means of inducing labor.

To his mild surprise, Shaffir found virtually no difference in beliefs across ages and education levels and experience.

Those surveyed were invited to volunteer other folk beliefs on inducing labor they might have heard. Two mentioned doing housework, one recommended dancing, and another said she heard drinking warm gin would help. Another suggested riding a car over a bumpy road. In his article, Schaffir lets those suggestions go by without scientific critique, though he said later alcohol is definitely not recommended

While those and other folk remedies such as eating spicy foods or drinking red raspberry tea "are simply fanciful and harmless," the researcher said, other beliefs such as withholding food carry clear risks to both the mother and fetus. Even for those remedies that do have a basis in science, safety issues and dosages "haven't been worked out to the point where we can safely recommend any folk remedy," Schaffir said.

"For someone who does not have a medical reason for be induced, the best remedy is time," Schaffir said. "The best thing is to let labor start on its own."

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