OAKLAND, Calif., Nov 02, 2009 (ASCRIBE NEWS via COMTEX) -- Results of a new
study may be good news for millions of women who drink moderately during early
pregnancy and their risk of miscarriage. Researchers associated with the Alcohol
Research Group (ARG), a program of the Public Health Institute (PHI) and at
School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley),
have found that multivitamin supplements may play a protective role against
miscarriages attributed to early pregnancy alcohol consumption.
The study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, finds
that women of childbearing years might reduce their risk of miscarriage
associated with alcohol consumption by taking multivitamin supplements. The
study, entitled "Do multivitamin supplements modify the relationship between
prenatal alcohol intake and miscarriage?" is the first to look at whether
multivitamin supplementation might impact the relationship between drinking
during pregnancy and reproductive outcomes; and the findings may have important
implications for women of childbearing age.
"While these are the first studies to evaluate the relationship between vitamins
and miscarriage, I don't want to say, 'just go take a multivitamin and you won't
have a miscarriage,'" says Lyndsay Ammon Avalos, a researcher at ARG and the
lead author of the study. "But a lot of women are drinking before they know they
are pregnant, and if nutrition could have a protective effect on reproductive
outcomes, then maybe there are some interventions available to women in their
childbearing years."
While previous research has shown a correlation between alcohol consumption in
early pregnancy and miscarriage, the nature of that relationship -- or how
exactly alcohol harms the fetus, causing miscarriage -- remains a mystery. Since
alcohol might disrupt maternal and/or fetal nutrition, researchers set out to
determine whether additional nutrition, in the form of multivitamin supplements,
might act as a protective agent in alcohol's toxicity.
To test this theory, researchers from ARG and the School of Public Health at the
UC Berkeley followed more than one thousand pregnant women members of Kaiser
Permanente's Medical Care Program. Participants were asked about their alcohol
consumption and vitamin intake as well as about other behaviors during
pregnancy, such as caffeine use, level of exercise and tobacco use.
Researchers found that among women who did not take multivitamins, women who
drank alcohol were nearly twice as likely to have a miscarriage compared with
women who did not drink. However, among multivitamin users, there was no
difference in the risk of miscarriage between women who drank alcohol and women
who abstained, according to data, which was collected at Kaiser Permanente
Hospitals in San Francisco, from 1996-1998.
"Taking into account other healthy behaviors, maternal age, marital status,
along with some other factors, the results indicate something was going on that
may be protecting the fetus," says Ammon Avalos, whose research was supported by
a training grant as part of her dissertation while at the School of Public
Health at UC Berkeley.
When women began taking multivitamins prior to pregnancy, additional findings
showed the timing of multivitamin status had the most pronounced impact. Results
suggest the volume of alcohol may also be important. And not surprisingly, the
risk of miscarriage was greatest for women who drank alcohol and reported taking
no vitamin supplements.
Considering that nearly half of US pregnancies are unintended and surveys have
shown that binge drinking is prevalent among women of childbearing age, editors
of the journal believe the findings are clinically relevant and encourage future
research to replicate these findings.
American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology is a peer-reviewed journal published
by Elsevier, international publishers of health-related and scientific journals
and books.
About the Public Health Institute
The Public Health Institute (PHI), an independent nonprofit organization based
in Oakland, California, is dedicated to promoting health, well-being and quality
of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the
world. PHI's primary methods for achieving these goals include: sharing evidence
developed through quality research and evaluation; providing training and
technical assistance; and promoting successful prevention strategies to
policymakers, communities, and individuals.
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CONTACTS: To reach Lyndsay Ammon Avalos, call 510-597-3440 (office), 510-501
1963 (cell), or e-mail lammon@arg.org. For media assistance, contact Cinderella
Lee, PHI Communications Manager, 510-285-5533, clee@phi.org.