Micronutrients may mitigate effects of smoking/drinking during pregnancy.

2003 AUG 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Micronutrient supplementation may mitigate some of the effects of drinking alcohol and smoking during pregnancy.

"This literature review examines whether smoking or alcohol use during pregnancy increases maternal micronutrient requirements and whether smoking or alcohol use interacts with micronutrient deficiencies to affect pregnancy outcomes," scientists writing in the Journal of Nutrition report.

"Studies suggest that vitamin C requirements increase for pregnant smokers," said Mary E. Cogswell and collaborators at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health in the United States. "Studies also indicate that beta-carotene, vitamin B-12, vitamin B-6 and folate concentrations appear lower in pregnant smokers than in pregnant nonsmokers, although it is unclear whether lower serum concentrations are due to increased requirements, lower dietary or supplement intakes, or other factors."

"Experimental animal studies suggest that iron supplementation partially ameliorates impaired fetal growth caused by cadmium, a heavy metal inhaled from cigarette smoke, but studies in humans have not substantiated cadmium's effect on fetal growth," stated Cogswell and her coauthors. "Animal studies also suggest chronic alcohol consumption at levels of 20-50% of energy intake during pregnancy may mobilize fetal vitamin A concentration from the liver and result in increases in vitamin A in fetal organs and subsequent defects. ...