According to a new study, prescribing vitamin C to women who continue to smoke during pregnancy can counteract the deleterious effects of tobacco on the infant’s lungs. But the best way is still to help the mother quit smoking.
Tobacco during pregnancy can cause multiple damage. Miscarriage, premature birth, developmental delay… Also, the baby can have respiratory problems when he grows up. According to a new study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicinevitamin C supplements can reduce damage to infant lungs.
“Smoking during pregnancy shows how highly addictive nicotine is, and it disproportionately affects the most vulnerable populations,” says Dr. McEvoy, lead author on the study and professor of pediatrics at Oregon Health & Science University.
500 mg per day of vitamin C
Thus in France, 16.6% of pregnant women smoked more than one cigarette a day during their third trimester of pregnancy in 2016, according to a study by Inserm and the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and statistics (Dress). In this study, 251 pregnant women who smoked during pregnancy were randomly assigned either vitamin C or a placebo.
The researchers found that the oxidative stress caused by smoking tobacco reduced the amount of ascorbic acid – a component of vitamin C – in the body. These levels increased in study participants who received vitamin C, up to 500 mg per day. In a previous study, the authors had shown that 72 hours after birth, babies of mothers who smoked had better lung function if they took vitamin C.
It is better to quit smoking
During the study, pregnant women received psychological help. About 10% of them quit smoking. Helping mothers-to-be quit smoking should always be the top priority, say researchers.
“Although a vitamin C supplement can protect, to some extent, the lungs of babies, these children will always be at greater risk of obesity, behavioral disorders and other serious health problems”, concludes the Dr. McEvoy…and nicotine substitutes are not contraindicated during pregnancy.
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