Monday, June 12, 2006

Vitamin E linked to stillbirth

Article
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"However, earlier research has suggested that vitamin E, particularly taken with vitamin C, can help protect against miscarriage and pre-eclampsia.

The London study and separate research in Australia - published in The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine - now suggest this is untrue.

Doctors at St Thomas' Hospital conducted a two-year trial on 2,400 pregnant women at risk of pre-eclampsia.

Some took 250mg of vitamin E and 1,000mg of vitamin C each day from 14 weeks until they gave birth.

Those women who took the high doses, which were typical to those found in supplements, developed pre-eclampsia sooner and had a more severe form of the illness.

Nineteen babies were stillborn to mothers taking vitamin E supplements, compared with just seven in the group which did not take the pills.

In addition, the birthweight of the babies whose mothers had taken the vitamins was on average 60g less than the placebo group. "

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It is amazing to me that in this day and age we really know so little about women's health, and pregnancy in particular.

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