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Vitamin C improved lung function of pregnant smokers’ newborns
Vitamin C supplements administered to pregnant women who smoke improved lung function and decreased the incidence of wheezing among newborns, according to study findings in JAMA.
Cindy T. McEvoy, MD, MCR, of Oregon Health & Science University, and colleagues randomly assigned pregnant women who smoked to 500 mg vitamin C per day or a placebo. Researchers compared pulmonary function test results of 159 infants born to pregnant smokers with 76 infants born to pregnant nonsmokers. Tests were performed within 72 hours of birth and again when study participants were aged 1 year.
Of the 159 infants born to pregnant smokers, 76 received vitamin C and had better measures of respiratory function than infants born to smokers who did not receive vitamin C. Children of women who received vitamin C had a significantly lower incidence of wheezing during their first year of life vs. those who received a placebo (21% vs. 40%). One-year pulmonary function test results did not differ between vitamin C and placebo groups.
“Vitamin C supplementation in pregnant smokers may be an inexpensive and simple approach (with continued smoking cessation counseling) to decrease some of the effects of smoking in pregnancy on newborn pulmonary function and ultimately infant respiratory morbidities, but further study is required,” the researchers said in a press release.
“The findings from the study by McEvoy et al offer an approach for potentially minimizing the harmful effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on the respiratory health of infants. However, achieving smoking cessation should be the primary goal for women who smoke and who intend to or become pregnant. By preventing her developing fetus and newborn infant from becoming exposed to tobacco smoke, a pregnant woman can do more for the respiratory health and overall health of her child than any amount of vitamin C may be able to accomplish,” Graham L. Hall, PhD, of the University of Western Australia, said in an accompanying editorial.
