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Vitamins in pregnancy can reduce infant cancers
A meta analysis by Canadian researchers of seven previous studies, published online by the Journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics found that taking multivitamins and folic acid during pregnancy can help a mother reduce her baby's risk of developing the most common childhood cancers by up to one half.
The study looked at international research encompassing tens of thousands of children and found that multivitamins fortified with folic acid could lower the chances of contracting brain tumours by 27 per cent, leukaemia by 39 per cent and neuroblastoma by 49 per cent.
It has been known for about 15 years that mothers could reduce the risk of their babies being born with Spina Bifida, a malformation of the spine, by as much as 80 per cent by taking folic acid prior to and during early pregnancy.
While the Ontario study concentrated solely on neuroblastomas, the international studies also looked at leukaemia and brain tumours. As well, they included multivitamins along with folic acid in their nutrient scope.The study concluded that supplementation with a folic-acid containing multivitamin may be a preferred method, but the authors also stated that further research would need to be done to determine which vitamins or minerals in the supplements were responsible for the lower cancer rates.