Placebo treatment for pregnant women

An extraordinary double-blind medical trial carried out In 1959 by Dr Stewart Wolf on pregnant women suffering from nausea and vomiting demostrated some surprising results. Half of the women were prescribed traditional medicine that reduced the nausea and vomiting. The other half were given a placebo treatment. Both sets of patients demonstrated significantly reduced nausea.

In a development of the study a group of patients were given a “new, strong, very effective, anti-sickness” medication. In fact this time the placebo group received Ipecac - an extremely potent drug used to induce vomiting in cases of food poisoning. Surprisingly women continued to experience relief from vomiting - reversing the effect of one of the most powerful nausea-creating drugs that exists!

http://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/content/11/4/689.full.pdf+html