By Jenny Hope
London - Pregnant women taking a daily multivitamin pill have bigger babies, a study shows.
Taking the supplement cuts the risk of having low birthweight babies, which can have health problems.
This is the first study to show multivitamins specially tailored for pregnancy make a difference for women living in developed countries.
It was already known that the pills work in developing countries, where food may be scarce and diets lacking in nutrients. The study looked at the effect of multivitamins on 400 pregnant women with vitamin and mineral deficiencies living in London.
During the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, half started taking pills containing 19 vitamins and minerals, including iron, folic acid and vitamin D. The rest had dummy starch tablets.
After the babies were born, doctors found those taking the supplements had higher levels of iron, folate, thiamin and vitamin D.
Although iron levels fell in both groups, in late pregnancy 55 percent of women taking dummy pills were deficient compared with 36 percent of those on supplements.
The most significant finding was that mothers taking multivitamins had fewer small babies. Eight out of the 88 babies born to women on supplements were considered small, compared with 13 out of 61 on dummy pills. Women on supplements had babies 115g heavier on average.
Obstetrician Pat O'Brien said: "What happens in the womb can almost programme the baby for life."
Small babies are more likely to have breathing problems and develop jaundice, he said. As adults, they are also more likely to suffer from obesity, diabetes, heart attacks and strokes.
It is cheaper to give specially tailored vitamins to mothers-to-be than look after a baby in intensive care, added O'Brien.
The UK has one of the worst records in Western Europe for babies of low birthweight relative to time spent in the womb. - Daily Mail