Is okra good during pregnancy?

Okra is an ordinary vegetable that brings some folate, and the evidence that it does anything special in pregnancy is thin. We found no systematic review on okra in pregnancy and one randomized trial. In that trial, 60 Iranian women with gestational diabetes on diet therapy took 6 g of okra skin and seed powder a day for 4 weeks. Their fasting and 2 hour blood glucose ended lower than with diet alone (P below 0.001), and the abstract gives no absolute difference. Nobody was blinded and no outcome for the pregnancy or the baby was measured.

Unsettled. The gestational diabetes result is one small open-label trial with no placebo, using a powder made from okra skin and seeds. It shows that blood glucose moved in 4 weeks. It cannot show whether the babies or the births were any different, and the full text, which would carry the size of the drop, was not available to us.

What the trials found

Beyond that trial, the human evidence on okra in pregnancy comes from two studies in western Ethiopia. In a survey of 224 pregnant women in 2020, where 42.4 percent had a mid-upper arm circumference of 8.7 in (22 cm) or less, eating okra daily was linked to an arm circumference 0.5 in (1.27 cm) larger (95% CI 0.583 to 1.956), a marker of better nutritional status. That is one point in time, and women who eat okra every day may also have more food and income, so it cannot show that okra itself improved anything.

In interviews and focus groups with 86 pregnant women in rural western Ethiopia, okra pods were a daily staple, used to boost appetite and ease stomach pain. The leaves and stems were not eaten. That study recorded beliefs and practices only and measured no health outcome.

Okra is also said to ease labor. We found no trial on okra and labor, birth outcomes or okra water in pregnancy, and no peer-reviewed study behind that claim. The pages repeating it point to no primary research.

As food, okra brings folate. Raw okra has 88 micrograms per 3.5 oz (100 g) and boiled okra 46, so a 160 g cup of boiled okra gives about 74 micrograms, roughly an eighth of the 600 microgram pregnancy RDA. That is a useful contribution to a varied diet and it is far from the whole need.

Who should be careful

If you take metformin for gestational diabetes, there is one animal signal worth knowing. In diabetic rats, a concentrated water-soluble fraction of okra given with metformin almost canceled the drug's effect: blood glucose fell from 577 to 268 mg/dL (32.0 to 14.9 mmol/L) in 4 hours on metformin alone and only from 604 to 580 mg/dL (33.5 to 32.2 mmol/L) with the okra fraction. That is rats and an extract, with no human data on the interaction, and the authors advised care with metformin and okra meals. In a separate trial of 100 adults with type 2 diabetes who were not pregnant and were already taking metformin and gliclazide, 1,000 mg of okra powder three times a day for 3 months lowered fasting glucose and HbA1c against placebo, with no liver, kidney or blood pressure side effects seen. That abstract gives direction and significance only.

Okra allergy exists, and how common it is has not been measured. Two okra pickers and packers in Japan developed IgE-mediated allergy, and 8 of 14 fellow farmers reacted on skin testing, which is occupational exposure. A systematic review of food allergy in 11 African countries lists okra in Nigeria as a regional allergen, on weak data without challenge-proven diagnosis.

Not for everyone. Okra does not replace folic acid. The advice for anyone who could become pregnant is 400 micrograms of folic acid a day from supplements or fortified foods in addition to food folate. If you take metformin for gestational diabetes and plan to use okra powder or okra water as a remedy, raise it with the team treating you, since the only data on okra blunting metformin come from rats.

What expert bodies say

Our cards hold no expert body position on okra in pregnancy. On folate, the Food and Nutrition Board, quoted by the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, raised the RDA from 400 micrograms DFE a day to 600 in pregnancy, and advises all women who could become pregnant to take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily from supplements, fortified foods or both, in addition to food folate from a varied diet.

How we searched

What would change this answer

• A blinded, placebo-controlled trial of okra in gestational diabetes that reports glucose in absolute terms and follows the pregnancy through to birth weight and delivery.
• Any human study of okra and metformin taken together, in pregnancy or outside it. The caution above rests on rats.
• A study of okra and labor. At present there is nothing to weigh.
• A cohort that follows okra intake in pregnancy against outcomes while adjusting for food security and income.

More on okra itself, including nutrients and the diabetes evidence: Okra.

Sources

1. ev-okpg-01 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · non-blinded randomized controlled trial, okra powder 3 g twice daily plus GDM diet vs GDM diet alone, 4 weeks · n = 60
   However, mean FBS was significantly lower in the intervention group at two weeks and four weeks after the baseline (P<0.001). ... However, the mean 2-hour PPG was significantly lower in the intervention group at two weeks and four weeks after the baseline (P<0.001).
   
   Who: women with GDM on diet therapy, randomly allocated into two groups
   Effect: fasting blood sugar and 2-hour postprandial glucose significantly lower in the okra group at 2 and 4 weeks (P<0.001); baseline values similar; absolute differences not given in the abstract
   Certainty: Single small open-label trial; no placebo; no pregnancy or newborn outcomes; powder, not okra as a vegetable.
   Nursing and Midwifery Studies, 2023, 12(2):62 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
2. ev-okpg-02 · Observational data · community-based cross-sectional study · n = 224
   After adjusting for different confounding factors in the final multivariable linear regression model, the variables hemoglobin concentration (β = 0.346, [95% CI: 0.153, 0.539], p = .001), food insecurity (β = −0.887, [95% CI: −1.441, −0.334], p = .002), daily consumption of okra (β = 1.269, [95% CI: 0.583, 1.956], p ≤ .001), and women working in NGO (β = 0.443, [95% CI: 0.256, 0.630], p ≤ .001) were statistically significant at p‐value <.05 (Table 6 and Figure 1).
   
   Who: randomly selected pregnant women in western Ethiopia, 2020; 42.4% had MUAC of 8.7 in (22 cm) or less
   Effect: daily okra consumption beta 0.5 in (1.269 cm) MUAC (95% CI 0.583 to 1.956) in multivariable linear regression
   Certainty: Single time point; okra eaters may differ in food security and income; cannot show that okra itself improved nutrition.
   Food Science & Nutrition, 2023, 11:5554-5564 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the fulltext
3. ev-okpg-03 · Observational data · qualitative study · n = 86
   As explored by this study, okra had different traditional and health benefits for pregnant women. It relieved the pain related to gastritis and related problems.
   
   Who: pregnant women in rural western Ethiopia, 14 in-depth interviews and 72 in focus groups
   Effect: descriptive; no effect size
   Certainty: Beliefs and practices only; no health outcomes measured.
   BMJ Open, 2023, 13:e071612 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the fulltext
4. ev-okpg-04 · Position of an expert body · dataset · n = two CoFID rows
   CoFID 13-300 Okra, raw: Folate 88 ug || CoFID 13-652 Okra, boiled in unsalted water: Folate 46 ug || FNDDS 2709944 Okra, fresh, cooked, no added fat: 1 cup 160 g
   
   Who: CoFID 2021 rows 13-300 Okra raw and 13-652 Okra boiled in unsalted water; FNDDS portion 2709944
   Effect: folate 88 ug/100 g raw, 46 ug/100 g boiled; 1 cup cooked okra 160 g; about 74 ug folate per cup boiled
   Certainty: Food folate counts 1 ug DFE per ug; calculation 46 x 1.6 by the researcher; folate is lost to cooking water.
   CoFID 2021, Public Health England / OGL v3.0; FNDDS 2021-2023 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the dataset
5. ev-okpg-05 · Position of an expert body · government fact sheet · n = —
   To meet this need, the FNB increased the folate RDA from 400 mcg DFE/day for nonpregnant women to 600 mcg DFE/day during pregnancy [2].
   
   Who: pregnant women, NIH ODS folate fact sheet
   Effect: RDA 600 mcg DFE/day in pregnancy vs 400 mcg DFE/day non-pregnant
   Certainty: Reference value, not an okra-specific statement.
   NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Folate Fact Sheet for Health Professionals · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the section
6. ev-okpg-06 · Position of an expert body · government fact sheet · n = —
   The FNB advises all women and adolescents who are capable of becoming pregnant to “consume 400 mcg of folic acid daily from supplements, fortified foods, or both in addition to consuming food folate from a varied diet” [2].
   
   Who: women and adolescents capable of becoming pregnant, NIH ODS folate fact sheet
   Effect: 400 mcg folic acid daily in addition to food folate
   Certainty: Okra is a food folate source that comes on top of, not instead of, folic acid.
   NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Folate Fact Sheet for Health Professionals · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the section
7. ev-okpg-07 · Laboratory or animal data · animal experiment · n = —
   These observations suggest that type 2 DM patients should be careful in taking metformin with a meal that contains lady's fingers.
   
   Who: alloxan-induced diabetic Long Evans rats, metformin 200 mg/kg with or without okra water-soluble fraction
   Effect: blood glucose fell from 577 to 268 mg/dL (32.0 to 14.9 mmol/L) in 4 h with metformin alone vs 604 to 580 mg/dL (33.5 to 32.2 mmol/L) with okra fraction
   Certainty: Rats, concentrated okra fraction; no human data. Relevant because metformin is used for gestational diabetes.
   ISRN Pharmaceutics, 2011, 2011:260537 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the fulltext
8. ev-okpg-08 · Laboratory or animal data · case series · n = 16
   To confirm the etiology of the two cases 14 farmers engaged in picking and packing okra were examined. Among them, 8 subjects (57%) showed positive intradermal reactions to okra extracts. ... These results confirm that the okra may be capable of inducing IgE-mediated immediate-type allergy to workers handling okra.
   
   Who: two workers with work-related allergic symptoms and 14 farmers picking and packing okra, Japan
   Effect: 8 of 14 farmers (57%) intradermal positive
   Certainty: Occupational exposure; food allergy to okra in the general population is rare and not quantified.
   Environ Res, 1993 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
9. okr-c5-06 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial · n = 100
   The first group was administered 1000 mg of powdered okra fruit three times a day for 3 months, while the other group received a placebo capsule with the same dosage. ... No liver, kidney, and blood pressure or other side effects were observed in the groups associated with okra treatment.
   
   Who: 100 patients with type 2 diabetes aged 40 to 60, double-blind, placebo, 3 g/d okra pod powder for 3 months on top of standard therapy, Iran (IRCT20120112008712N2)
   Effect: significant decreases in FBG, HbA1c, total cholesterol, triglycerides and hs-CRP versus placebo; effect sizes not given in the abstract; no adverse effects observed
   Certainty: abstract reports direction and significance only; safety is a 3-month observation in 50 people
   Acta Diabetol, 2023 · checked 2026-09-23 · we read the abstract
10. okr-c5-13 · Observational data · systematic review of observational prevalence and sensitization studies · n = 11 countries
    Apart from the foods that commonly cause allergy in westernized countries, other regionally significant or novel food allergens may include pineapple (Ghana), okra (Nigeria), and mopane worm (Botswana).
    
    Who: published food allergy studies from 11 African countries, mostly sensitization or self-reported symptoms
    Effect: okra named as a regional allergen in Nigeria; most studies lack stringent diagnosis
    Certainty: review of weak data; the okra finding rests on regional reports rather than challenge-proven allergy
    Clin Rev Allergy Immunol, 2014 · checked 2026-09-23 · we read the abstract