Vitamin C May Cut Pregnant Smoking Risks

Roman Bystrianyk · medicine forum Guru Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 454

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.php?event=news_print_list_item&id=782

"Vitamin C May Cut Pregnant Smoking Risks", Washington Post, May 2,
2005,
Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/02/AR2005050200345.html

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have found that high
doses of vitamin C might counteract some of the negative effects of
smoking on unborn babies.

The researchers say their findings don't mean it's OK for pregnant
women to smoke, but the results could lead to a treatment of a last
resort if a woman is unwilling to kick the habit.

"The single most important thing is for pregnant women to stop
smoking," said Dr. Eliot Spindel, senior scientist in the neuroscience
division at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Center and one of the
study's authors.

Despite decades of warnings and public health campaigns, roughly 12
percent of women keep smoking during pregnancy, according to federal
health statistics.

The OHSU research, published Sunday in the American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, studied three small groups of
infant rhesus monkeys.

Seven monkeys were born to mothers who received daily, 2 milligram
doses of nicotine, comparable to those of a smoking mother. The
breathing abilities and lung development of those monkeys were compared
with seven monkeys born to mothers who had received both nicotine and
daily 250 milligram doses of vitamin C during pregnancy.

A third group of six monkeys received neither nicotine nor vitamin C
and were studied as a control group.

The researchers found that animals exposed to nicotine before birth had
reduced air flow in the lungs compared to animals that were given
nicotine and vitamin C, Spindel said.

The monkeys given nicotine and vitamin C had lung air flow close to
that of a normal animal, he said.

Spindel said he doesn't know what mechanisms are causing vitamin C to
have a protective effect against nicotine, but he has two theories.

One theory involves vitamin C's effect on connective tissues. Nicotine
is known to be harmful to elastic tissues in the lungs, and it's
possible that vitamin C may prevent that harm.

The other theory involves vitamin C's role as an antioxidant,
protecting molecules in the body from damage by free radicals that are
generated during normal metabolism and from exposure to toxins and
pollutants.

While the study demonstrates vitamin C's promise for counteracting the
effects of nicotine on lung function, the researchers note that vitamin
C did not counteract other negative effects of smoking during
pregnancy, such as abnormal brain development and decreased body
weight.

Dr. Michael Gravett, chief of maternal-fetal medicine at the OHSU
School of Medicine, said that if he can't get his patients who smoke to
quit during pregnancy, he plans to start telling them to take vitamin
C.

The monkeys used in the study are very similar to humans during
pregnancy, with the same type of placenta and a long gestational
period, he said.

Gravett said the study showed that smoking had a much more adverse
effect on fetal development than was previously thought, with smoking
mothers causing changes in their babies' lungs.

"What happens to you as a fetus is extraordinarily important as to what
diseases you may be susceptible to as an adult," Gravett said.

TC · medicine forum Guru Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 1814

good info. Thanks for posting it.

TC

Roman Bystrianyk wrote:

KR · medicine forum beginner Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1

I think it's too bad that they found this out, now some stupid women
will try justifying smoking while pregnant by claiming to take extra
vit. C. If you're pregnant, quit smoking.

TC · medicine forum Guru Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 1814

KR wrote:

Robert · medicine forum Guru Joined: 28 Apr 2005 Posts: 1700

"TC" <tunderbar@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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