Vitamins could help nutrient-deficient mothers have healthier babies a study has found.

402 poorly nourished women from a socially deprived area in east London were given a multivitamin and mineral supplement (including iron and folic acid) or a placebo from their first trimester of pregnancy to see if it would have any effect on their health and the health of their babies.

Women who took the supplement were found to have better nutrient status at 36 weeks than those who took placebo. Women taking the supplement were less likely to have a baby who was small-forgestational age.

It makes sense that pregnant women should have a healthy diet and take a multivitamin supplement in order to ensure that they are taking in, and passing on, all the essential micronutrients. There is a school of thought that in developed countries, there is no need for pregnant women to take a supplement as diets in these countries are adequate, but one of the study authors says that the results “blows out of the water the idea that all women in the UK are adequately nourished”. The trial of 400 women in east London, found the number of “small-for-gestational age” babies was reduced among those who took a multivitamin supplement compared with those given a placebo.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007114510000747