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Vitamines tijdens de zwangerschap voorkomen afwijkingen bij de geboorte.*
Volgens een onderzoek hebben vrouwen die vanaf 3 maanden voor en tijdens de zwangerschap muliti vitamines nemen 60% minder kans op een baby met de afwijking omphalocèle (aandoening in de buik). Welke vitamine beschermt is nog niet duidelijk, maar gedacht wordt aan Floiumzuur en andere B-vitamines. Verder onderzoek zal dit moeten uitwijzen.
Women who take a
multivitamin supplement before conception may reduce their risk of delivering a
baby with a particular, rare birth defect, preliminary study findings indicate.
In the study, regular multivitamin use beginning 3 months before and
continuing during pregnancy was associated with a 60% reduction in the risk of
omphalocele, a defect in the abdominal wall that strikes 1 in 4,000 to 6,000
pregnancies. At this point, it is not clear which nutrients are protective, but
folic acid--a B vitamin that lowers the risk for neural tube defects such as
spina bifida--is a "good candidate for further study," Dr. Lorenzo D.
Botto, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health. "The data do not allow
us to disentangle the relative role of single nutrients," said Botto, from
the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. The study,
which is published in the May issue of Pediatrics, underscores the need for more
research into both the apparent association between multivitamins and
omphalocele, and the mechanism by which they may reduce the risk. Omphalocele
often occurs in conjunction with other birth defects such as trisomy 18, also
known as Edward syndrome. In the condition, the contents of the abdomen protrude
through a hole at the navel, and the infant often dies to due to multiple
physical defects. "The findings suggest a possible reduced risk for
omphalocele among mothers who used multivitamin supplements from before
conception," Botto said in an interview. "This is the first report
showing these findings and should encourage further studies, particularly since
few non-genetic causes of omphalocele are currently known." The results are
based on an analysis of medical data from 72 infants born with nonsyndromic
omphalocele and more than 3,000 healthy infants born between 1968 and 1980.
Mothers were interviewed about their multivitamin use. SOURCE: Pediatrics
2002;109:904-908. (mei 2002)