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Multivitamins Urged for All Pregnant Women A recent study in Tanzania found that when pregnant women took vitamins every day, fewer babies were bom too small. Babies that weigh less than two and one-half kilograms at birth have a greater risk of dying. Those that survive are more likely to experience problems with their development. And experts say that as adults they have a higher risk of diseases including heart disease and diabetes. The World Health Organization1 estimates that every year twenty million babies are bom with low birth weight. Nine out of ten of them are bom in developing countries. The new study took place in Dar es Salaam. 4,200 pregnant women received multivitamins. The pills contained all of the vitamins in the B group along with2 vitamins C and E. They also contained several times more iron and folate than the levels advised for women in developed nations. Pregnant women especially in poor countries may find it difficult to get enough vitamins and minerals from the foods in their diet. The scientists compared the findings with results from a group of 4,000 women who did not receive the vitamins. A report by the scientists, from the United States and Tanzania, appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine,3 Wafaie Fawzi of the Harvard University School of Public Health4 led the study. None of the women in the study had HTV, the virus that causes AIDS. The scientists reported earlier that daily multivitamins were a low-cost way to reduce fetal deaths in pregnant women infected with5 HIV. The earlier work in Tanzania also found improvement in the mothers in their number of blood cells known as lymphocytes. Lymphocytes increase the bodys immunity against infection. | 
