Vitamins Reduce Infant Health Risk

Vitamin supplements during pregnancy may be a silver bullet for health in developing nations, according to a Harvard study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The researchers suggest that distributing multivitamins, such as B-complex, C, and E vitamins, to pregnant women could be a cost-effective way of reducing low infant birth weight, a significant risk factor for infant mortality and other afflictions like heart disease and diabetes.

Building on earlier findings of improved birth outcomes for HIV-positive women, the study showed better outcomes for HIV-negative women taking multivitamins as well. The researchers found an 18 percent decrease in low birth weight, which is defined as weights less than five-and-a-half pounds, for those HIV-negative women taking daily vitamin supplements.

“Multivitamins are already being used for many HIV-positive women, and with the findings we have from HIV-negative women, we hope such supplements will be made available to all women,” said the study’s lead author, Wafaie W. Fawzi, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), more than 20 million children are born each year with low birth weight­, and 96 percent of the afflicted infants are born in developing nations.

UNICEF and other international health organizations already distribute certain nutrients to pregnant women in developing nations, and the researchers propose folding the tested multivitamins into aid networks that already exist to dispense supplements.

Fawzi said that supplements currently distributed in developing nations include only iron and folate, both commonly given to expecting mothers.

“The question now is how to incorporate additional nutrients into the same supplement and hopefully utilize the same distribution system,” Fawzi said.

Fawzi said he expected to discuss how best to get the vitamins to pregnant women with aid organizations that work on improving infant health in the developing world.

“The only other avenue would be an individual basis—we are [distributing multivitamins] for example in our own program in Tanzania,” he said. “It’s a costly approach given that our price would be dramatically reduced if they’re mass produced.”

—Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu.