Women who regularly take multivitamins about the time they get pregnant seem to have an inferior risk of having premature delivery or having smaller baby than normal. Researchers believe that poor nutrition play a significant role in pregnancy related complications such as preterm births and deprived growth rates within the womb.
A team led by Janet M. Catov from the University of Pittsburgh carried out a study including thirty-six thousand pregnant Danish women. All the study participants were asked about their diet, weight and use of vitamins. The latest study reinforces the connection of multivitamin use and lower risk of preterm birth.
However, it does not prove that taking multivitamins is a good idea for women who plant to get pregnant. Indeed US officials advise expectant mothers against taking regular vitamins, which could harm the baby. But they suggest expectant mothers to supplement the diet with folic acid that cuts the odds of certain birth flaws.
The novel study investigated use of multivitamins around the time of conception, which is four weeks prior to and eight weeks after the last cycle of a woman. Women, who had taken multivitamins as a minimum eight out of twelve weeks, were at risk of preterm birth by more than four percent.
Women who did not take supplements were at risk of preterm birth by more than five percent. The vitamin-popping women were also less prone to have a smaller baby than the normal. Those associations held even after considering aspects like diet and smoking, but only in women with normal weight.
The causes are not obvious, but could be related with problems in absorbing nutrients, suggest Catov and team. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.