FILE- In this Oct. 22, 2011 file photo, a doctor examines a pregnant woman at the district women's hospital, in Allahabad, in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. India’s government is advising... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE- In this Oct. 22, 2011 file photo, a doctor examines a pregnant woman at the district women's hospital, in Allahabad, in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. India’s government is advising... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW DELHI (AP) — India's government is advising pregnant women to avoid all meat, eggs and lusty thoughts. 
 
 Doctors say the advice is preposterous, and even dangerous, considering India's already-poor record with maternal health. Women are often the last to eat or receive health care in traditionally patriarchal Indian households. 
 
 Malnutrition and anemia, or iron deficiency, are key factors behind India's having one of the world's highest rates of maternal mortality, with 174 of every 100,000 pregnancies resulting in the mother's death in 2015. That's better than five years earlier, when the maternal mortality rate was 205 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, but still far worse than China's 27 per 100,000 or the United States' 14 per 100,000, according to UNICEF. 
 
 "The government is doling out unscientific and irrational advice, instead of ensuring that poor pregnant women get to eat a nutritious, high-protein diet," said gynecologist Arun Gadre, who is based in the western Indian city of Pune but works in rural areas. 
 
 The government booklet, titled "Mother and Child Care," smacks of religious dogma and ignores widely accepted medical evidence that pregnant women benefit from eating protein-rich meats and can safely engage in sex, doctors said. 
 
 It says pregnant women should also shun "impure thoughts" and look at pictures of beautiful babies to benefit the fetus. 
 
 "Pregnant women should detach themselves from desire, anger, attachment, hatred and lust," reads the booklet, released last week by the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy, a part of the government's ministry that promotes traditional and alternative medicine. 
 
 The traditional medicine minister defended the booklet as containing "wisdom accumulated over many centuries," and said it did not advise specifically against sex, only against all thoughts of desire or lust. 
 
 "The booklet puts together relevant facts culled out from clinical practice in the fields of yoga and naturopathy," Minister Shripad Naik said. 
 
 The advice is unlikely to be followed at the many government-run health centers across India. They are operated by the Health Ministry, which has had past conflicts with the traditional medicine ministry and follows more scientific practices. 
 
 The booklet is the latest push for vegetarianism by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government, which already advocates avoiding beef and strictly limits the transportation and slaughter of cows, which are considered sacred by Hindus. 
 
 But the latest homily to pregnant women has outraged the medical community. 
 
 "This is a national shame. If the calories of expectant mothers are further reduced by asking them to shun meat and eggs, this situation will only worsen," Gadre said. "This is absurd advice to be giving to pregnant women in a country like India." 
 
 About a third of India's 1.3 billion people struggle to live on less than $2 a day. Many are lucky to eat more than one full meal a day, and women often give their portions up to their hungry children or husbands. 
 
 Malnourished women are more likely to give birth to underweight babies, who then are in danger of being "stunted" or not growing to their full height and weight. A full 48 percent of all Indian children under the age of 5 are considered stunted, according to a 2015 report by UNICEF. 
 
 "Undernourished girls grow into undernourished women. Married by their families while still in their teens, these girls become pregnant by the time they are 17 or 18, when their bodies have not matured enough to safely deliver a child," said Amit Sengupta, a physician and health care activist with the Delhi Science Forum, a public advocacy organization. 
 
 He said the government's advice to pregnant women betrayed "backward thinking" and hostility toward evidence-based science. 
 
 "This kind of advice is detrimental to women's health," he said. ||||| Don’t eat meat, say no to sex after conception, avoid bad company, have spiritual thoughts and hang some good and beautiful pictures in your room to have a healthy baby. 
 
 This is ministry of Ayush’s prescription for pregnant women in India, where 26 million babies are born each year. 
 
 The recommendations are part of a booklet called Mother and Child Care, compiled by the government-funded Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN) under the Ayush ministry, formed in 2014 to promote Indian traditional healing practices. 
 
 Pregnant women must Stay away from desire, anger, attachment, hatred and lust. 
 
 Avoid bad company 
 
 Be with good people in stable and peaceful conditions only 
 
 Hang some good and beautiful pictures in the bedroom, which will affect the child also. 
 
 Self study, have spiritual thoughts 
 
 Read the life stories of great personalities 
 
 Keep calm (Source: Mother & Child Care Through Yoga and Naturopathy, ministry of Ayush ) 
 
 Experts and rationalists accuse a section of BJP leaders and Hindu right-wing groups of promoting unscientific theories in healthcare and other areas. 
 
 Last month, the Jamnagar-based Garbh Vigyan Anusandhan Kendra – allegedly linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – said couples can conceive the “best progeny” through purification, having sex on auspicious days and abstinence after conception. 
 
 Yoga guru Ramdev, known to be close to the ruling BJP, faces criticism after one of his companies claimed to have concocted a medicine that ensure a male child for couples who can’t conceive. 
 
 Union minister Shripad Naik, who released the booked recently ahead of the International Day for Yoga on June 21, said it was published three years ago and is a compilation of yoga practices that are believed to help pregnant women. 
 
 “The booklet does not contain any advice on abstaining from sex,” the Ayush minister said. 
 
 Dr Ishwara N Acharya, director in-charge of the CCRYN, also claimed the booklet does not say that “sex must be avoided”. 
 
 However, page 14 of the booklet has a paragraph which says,“Pregnant women should detach themselves from desire, anger, attachment, hatredness and lust…(sic).” 
 
 “The advice is unscientific. Protein-deficiency malnutrition and anaemia are health concerns for pregnant women and meats are a great source of both protein and iron, which is better absorbed from animal sources than plant sources,” said senior gynaecologist and obstetrician Malavika Sabharwal of the Apollo Healthcare Group. 
 
 As for sex, if the pregnancy is normal, there is no need for abstinence as the baby in the womb is protected by the amniotic fluid and the uterus muscles. 
 
 “Caution is advised during the first trimester when the placenta is low-lying and for complicated pregnancies, where there is a miscarriage risk,” said Suneeta Mittal, director of the obstetrics and gynaecology at Fortis Gurgaon. 
 
 Some studies show that a mother’s stress, anxiety and depression may affect the baby’s development. 
 
 “Pregnant women need to be happy and instead of being prescriptive about what they should think and do to be happy, we must urge them to do things they enjoy and strongly advise the family be to supportive,” Sabharwal added. 
 
 Around 44,000 women die of pregnancy-related causes in India each year, official data show. The country’s maternal mortality rate – defined as deaths per 100,000 live births – is 167. 
 
 (With agency inputs) 
 
 First Published: Jun 13, 2017 12:29 IST
– A government pamphlet's advice for pregnant women in India isn't going over well. The booklet titled "Mother and Child Care" tells the women to "detach themselves from desire, anger, attachment, hatred and lust," spurn "impure thoughts," look at "beautiful pictures" to benefit their fetus, and avoid meat and eggs, per the AP and Hindustan Times. According to one gynecologist in India, the advice isn't just "unscientific and irrational," but it's "a national shame" in a country where 174 of every 100,000 pregnancies resulted in the mother's death in 2015, due in part to malnutrition and anemia. That's compared to 14 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies in the US, according to UNICEF. Since women are typically the last to eat and receive medical care in Indian households, the government should be "ensuring that poor pregnant women get to eat a nutritious, high-protein diet," says gynecologist Arun Gadre. This would also help prevent stunted births; some 48% of Indian children under 5 have not grown to the proper height and weight. But "if the calories of expectant mothers are further reduced by asking them to shun meat and eggs, this situation will only worsen," Gadre says. With its advice against lust, the pamphlet also suggests that engaging in sex is dangerous for pregnant women, contrary to medical evidence. A government minister charged with promoting traditional and alternative medicine says the booklet contains "wisdom accumulated over many centuries" from "the fields of yoga and naturopathy."