Pre-Pregnancy Multivitamins Prevent Prematurity

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.p...st_item&id=376

Alison McCook, "Pre-Pregnancy Multivitamins Prevent Prematurity",
Reuters, November 5, 2004,
Link: http://www.healthsentinel.com/admin....d_table_ite m

Women who take multivitamins before becoming pregnant are less likely
to give birth to premature babies, new study findings suggest.

According to the research, conducted at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, women who took multivitamins before
conceiving were half as likely to deliver their babies before 37 weeks
of pregnancy.

However, continuing the multivitamins through the first months of
pregnancy appeared to have no influence on the risk of prematurity,
according to the American Journal of Epidemiology report.

Study author Dr. Anjel Vahratian explained that multivitamins contain
folic acid, a B vitamin that, when taken early in pregnancy, helps
prevent birth defects in the brain and spinal cord. Previous research
suggests that folic acid may improve the placental environment, which
helps fetal growth during the last months of pregnancy.

Since half of U.S. pregnancies are unplanned, it's important for women
who may become pregnant to always take folic acid, just in case, the
researcher noted.

And although the study suggests that vitamins during pregnancy had no
effect on prematurity, that does not mean they offer no benefits,
Vahratian said.

"Public health professionals should continue to encourage women to
take a daily multivitamin prior to conception and in pregnancy, as
part of a healthy diet," the researcher said.

Most of the previous research on how maternal nutrition influences
fetal outcomes has focused on how women ate during pregnancy, rather
than before.

To investigate how women's diet before conceiving affects a fetus,
Vahratian's team asked 2,010 women between their 24th and 29th weeks
of pregnancy about their use of multivitamins before and during their
pregnancies, then followed them and noted who gave birth prematurely.

Approximately 30 percent of women said they took multivitamins before
and during their pregnancies, and another 54 percent said they started
taking the pills only once they knew they were pregnant.

Vitamin-users were, on average, older, married, more educated and
financially secure.

Ninety-three women said they only took multivitamins before
conceiving. These women also reported the highest rates of nausea or
vomiting, which may explain why they did not continue the vitamins
after they became pregnant.

Only five of these women gave birth prematurely, a lower rate of
prematurity than that seen in nonusers, in women who took vitamins
before and during pregnancy, and in those who started vitamins once
they became pregnant.

Vahratian, now based at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, noted
that the benefits associated with multivitamins may not stem from the
vitamins themselves.

"The protective effect noted in preconceptional multivitamin users may
be a proxy for overall healthiness - that women who take a
multivitamin prior to pregnancy may be a healthier subset of the
general population," Vahratian told Reuters Health.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, November 1 2004.