Article Abstract:
Pregnant women who consume moderate amounts of caffeine may not have a higher risk of a miscarriage or birth defects in their unborn child than those who do not consume caffeine. Among 431 pregnant women, 39 consumed no caffeine, 187 consumed between one and 99 milligrams (mg) of caffeine per day, 110 consumed between 100 and 199 mg per day, 63 consumed between 200 and 299 mg per day and 24 consumed 300 mg or more per day. Women who suffered a miscarriage consumed an average of 126 mg of caffeine per day, compared to an average 112 mg of caffeine per day by the women who delivered liveborn infants. The incidence of fetal growth retardation or small head size was not higher among infants whose mothers consumed moderate amounts of caffeine than infants whose mothers did not use caffeine.
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Article Abstract:
Controversial claims regarding the effect of ingesting either multivitamins or folate, a certain form of vitamin B, around the time of conception are explored. The treatment is claimed to reduce a woman's chance of having a child with a neural tube defect. (The neural tube forms the brain and spinal cord of the embryo). The use of vitamin supplements around the time of conception by women who had fetuses with neural tube defects or some other deformity was shown to be statistically consistent with the number of mothers who bore healthy children. It was thus concluded that maternal vitamin use around the time of conception does not significantly reduce the risk of neural tube defects in the offspring.
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Article Abstract:
Mothers who consume normal amounts of vitamin A during and shortly after their pregnancies do not seem to put their infants at any increased risk for birth defects. Telephone interviews were conducted with 548 mothers of infants with neural tube defects, 387 mothers of infants with other birth defects, and 573 mothers of healthy infants. Mothers were asked about their vitamin A consumption during pregnancy and 45 days after birth. An equal percentage of women in each study group consumed between 8,000 and 25,000 units of vitamin A daily. Birth defect risk was similar if the mother consumed more than 8,000 units or less than 5,000 units.
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