OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 2 (AScribe Newswire) -- 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.
Media Contact: See above.
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