Vitamin C Boosts Infant Lung Function

PORTLAND, Ore.Babies born to smokers supplementing with vitamin C had improved lung function, according to a study presented at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) meeting in Washington, D.C.

Smoking during pregnancy is highly discouraged, as it harms the child's lungs and can cause wheezing, asthma and other problems. However, the Oregon Health & Science University study analyzed the effects of vitamin C on 159 women unable to quit smoking during their pregnancy.

In the study, women took either 500 mg vitamin C or placebo daily throughout their pregnancy. At 48 hours, researchers tested the newborns' pulmonary function, including lung size and how easily the babies breathed. Infants from the supplemented group exhibited significantly better lung function than those born to the placebo-taking mothers.

Investigators continued the study throughout the infants' first year, documenting episodes of wheezing and other respiratory symptoms. Infants from the vitamin C group had at least one episode of wheezing, significantly lower than the placebo group (40 percent) and the children of nonsmoking mothers (27 percent).

Getting women to quit smoking during pregnancy has to be priority one, but this finding provides a way to potentially help the infants born of the roughly 50 percent of pregnant smokers who wont or just cant quit smoking no matter what is tried," said study co-author Eliot Spindel, M.D., Ph.D., senior scientist at OHSU, in a statement.

Recently, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D have proved beneficial for pregnant women and their children.