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Excerpts from LOWER VITAMIN C IN SMOKERS' BREAST MILK

Reuters [08/19/98]

Pregnant women who smoke have lower levels of vitamin C in their breast milk, which may affect the health of their baby, a study reports.

``Cigarette smoking is a source of oxidant stress in pregnant women, suggesting that it could be a source of the same in infants exposed in (the uterus),'' write lead author Dr. Rosa M. Ortega of the Department of Nutrition at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, and colleagues.

The team suggests that vitamin C deficiency in a newborn ''may lead to inadequate antioxidant defenses,'' and that the level of antioxidants such as vitamin C in breast milk ''probably defines the degree of protection it can offer'' against the negative effects of normal metabolic processes.

Their study, published in the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, examined differences in vitamin C status in the blood and milk of smoking and nonsmoking women in their third trimester of pregnancy.

According to the study results, nonsmokers ``showed significantly greater vitamin C levels in both transition and mature milk.'' Further, the more cigarettes a woman smoked during pregnancy, the lower the vitamin C levels found in her transition and mature milk.

Researchers also found that the amount of vitamin C consumed by smokers tended to fall short of recommendations and that smokers tended to eat fewer fruits and vegetables than nonsmokers. However, there was no difference in the amount of vitamin C in the blood of the two groups.

``Pregnant smokers require special attention, and an increase in their consumption of fruit and vegetables is recommended,'' the authors conclude.

SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Nutrition 1998;17:379-384.

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