In a recent study, a daily supplement of Vitamin C has been used to improve the pulmonary function of the newborns. One year later, the study found that babies whose mother regularly took Vitamin C had a lower chance of developing wheeze.
The latest study measured the force expiratory flows (FEFs) in babies of 3 and 12 months from 252 mothers that smoked during pregnancy.
The pregnant smokers were part of the study in which some received mg of Vitamin C daily or placebo with a different prenatal vitamin. During pregnancy, they tried to quit smoking, but couldn’t. On average, the mothers smoked seven cigarettes a day during their pregnancy.
An Improving Lung Function in Newborn After Vitamin C Dosage
Lead study author Cynthia McEvoy, MD, is a professor of pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine and OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. She stated:
“Because infants are not cooperative at 3 and 12 months of age, we had to use sophisticated testing techniques to get these results, but they are similar to the results you would get when doing a spirometry test.”
After measuring the FEFs at three months and 12 months, the researchers found that the babies born to the two groups of women had a different lung function.
Eliot Spindel, MD, Ph.D., is the professor of neuroscience, OHSU School of Medicine and the study co-investigator. He stated that he and his team are not certain why Vitamin C protects the lungs of the newborns. However, he stated that Vitamin C could:
“Block the increased collagen deposition around the airways that has been shown in animal models of babies born after smoke/nicotine exposure during pregnancy, which likely makes the lungs and airways stiffer [and could] prevent some of the epigenetic changes that contribute to the lifelong effects of in-utero tobacco exposure.”
The study will continue to follow the children until they are six years old to see if there is a long-term effect on the respiratory health through childhood. The researchers want to see if the children will be less likely to develop asthma.
Doris’s passion for writing started to take shape in college where she was editor-in-chief of the college newspaper. Even though she ended up working in IT for more than 7 years, she’s now back to what he always enjoyed doing. With a true passion for technology, Doris mostly covers tech-related topics.