Vitamin C may Lower Lung Damage in Babies Caused by Maternal Smoking

Women are advised to stop smoking when they are pregnant. However, in cases where they aren't able to quit smoking, increasing vitamin C intake could lower the damage done to the fetus' lungs, a new study has found.

The study included 159 women who were about 22 weeks pregnant and were finding it tough to quit smoking. Researchers divided the study participants into two groups; with one group getting a 500 milligram capsule of vitamin C and the other getting a placebo pill.

"Vitamin C is a simple, safe and inexpensive treatment that may decrease the impact of smoking during pregnancy on childhood respiratory health," said Cynthia T. McEvoy, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Doernbecher Children's Hospital and lead author of the study, according to a new study.

Researchers tested the lung function of the babies within the first 48 hours of life. They checked the newborns' breathing rates and the size of their lungs. They found that mothers who were taking vitamin C pills had babies who had improved breathing patterns and a better lung function than mothers who smoked and were given the placebo.

In addition, researchers followed up babies for a year and tracked their health. They found that babies in the vitamin C group had fewer episodes of wheezing when compared with babies who were in the non-vitamin C group.

"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 won't or just can't quit smoking no matter what is tried," said Eliot Spindel, MD, PhD, senior scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at OHSU, co-author of the study.

The study will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC. An abstract of the study can be found here.

Previous research has shown that pregnant women who smoke have an increased risk of giving birth to premature babies. Smoking is also linked with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). According to estimates, about a fifth of all white women in the U.S. smoke during pregnancy. Children born to mothers who smoke are also at risk of having learning difficulties.