Doppler ultrasound reveals that vitamin C supplementation alters placental gene expression in pregnant women who smoke.
- In pregnant women who smoke, vitamin C helps improve placental blood flow.
- Additionally, it improves blood vessel development and overall placental function in patients’ babies.
- “At 3 months, 12 months and 5 years of age,” children’s lung function was better with vitamin C supplementation.
We know: smoking during pregnancy harms the development of the fetus. In detail, through the passage of nicotine into the placenta, maternal smoking causes a lifelong reduction in the child’s lung function. Additionally, other organs, such as the brain, kidneys and blood vessels, may be affected. Previous work, carried out by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University (United States), showed that, in animals exposed to nicotine during gestation, taking vitamin C could prevent these changes.
Pregnancy and tobacco: the vitamin compensates for the reduction in placental blood flow
In a new study, published in Scientific Reportsthe team wanted to know if this was possible in human beings. This is why they recruited 55 pregnant women who were unable to stop smoking during their pregnancy and 33 patients expecting a child who did not smoke. The participants all received a standard prenatal vitamin containing 60 mg of vitamin C, but one group also received an additional 500 mg of vitamin C. Next, the scientists used Doppler ultrasound to measure blood flow in the umbilical cord.
According to the results, vitamin C helped to compensate for the decrease in placental blood flow observed in pregnant women who smoked. “RNA sequencing demonstrated that vitamin C supplementation in pregnant smokers was associated with changes in mRNA expression in genes highly relevant to vascular and cardiac development,” the authors wrote.
“Until the age of 5”, the lung function of children “has further improved”
Indeed, by examining the placenta directly after birth, they observed that vitamin C could help improve blood vessel development and overall placental function in babies of patients who smoked. “Babies of women who received vitamin C had significant improvement in lung function tests at 3 months and 12 months of age. We were able to continue to follow these children until age 5 and their lung function further improved,” explained Cindy McEvoyco-author of the research.
