Obstetrics
High vitamin doses may harm pregnant mother
By IANS
Mar 31, 2006, 17:51

High doses of vitamin supplements may cause harm to pregnant women and their children, says a study.

Vitamin C and E were thought to cut the risk of pre-eclampsia, a condition of hypertension occurring in pregnancy. It is the most common cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality.

Up to 25,000 British women every year are affected by this disorder, which causes blood pressure to rise to levels that threaten mother and baby.

But a Lancet study by the charity Tommy's found women at high-risk should not take large doses of the vitamins, reported the online edition of BBC News.

Researchers gave some 2,400 expectant mothers with high blood pressure, kidney problems, clotting disorders or diabetes either extra vitamin supplements or a placebo.

The team discovered that pre-eclampsia appeared about a week earlier among those who received high doses of the vitamins and such women were also 15 percent more likely to deliver low birth-weight babies.

'We had high hopes for the use of high dose vitamins C and E in reducing the risk of developing pre-eclampsia,' a researcher was quoted as saying.

'However, a good thing that has come out of the trial is that it will prevent the use of high dose vitamin C and E slipping into clinical practice,' he said.

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