INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Relief may be a reality in the not-too-distant future for pregnant women dealing with morning sickness.

New research breakthroughs have identified a key contributor to nausea and vomiting and, in turn, a possible way to head off the worst effects before they happen.

“I’m really excited about this as a father of three kids,” said WISH-TV Medical Expert and former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams on News 8’s Daybreak. “My wife, like most women, has had morning sickness during her pregnancy.”

Research published in the journal Nature centers on a hormone called GDF15. In addition to natural levels already in a woman’s system, the fetus also releases it to her through the placenta during pregnancy. The baby-to-mother delivery of the hormone is seen as a key cause of morning sickness.

Scientists found that women who already had high levels of the hormone before pregnancy had fewer and milder bouts of morning sickness during the term, suggesting higher pre-pregnancy levels can have the effect of conditioning the body for the surge that happens during pregnancy.

“This will allow them to come up with new treatments targeted towards GDF 15 and hopefully make something very common pregnancy a lot more bearable for a lot more women out there,” Adams explained.

The study suggests giving GDF15 to a woman before she gets pregnant could protect her once she does conceive. If such therapies work, it would mean a groundbreaking approach to easing a problem that can range from mildly unpleasant to fully life-threatening. The most severe form of morning sickness, hyperemesis gravidarum, can lead to hospitalization or even cause an end to the pregnancy.

Nature quotes one of the researchers, University of Pennsylvania physiologist Tito Borner, as saying, “For the first time, hyperemesis gravidarum could be addressed at the root cause, rather than merely alleviating its symptoms.”

Experts estimate roughly 2% of pregnant women develop the most serious symptoms.