Prenatal vitamins reduce childhood cancers

Mothers taking multivitamins before and during pregnancy reduce the chances of leukaemia, neuroblastoma and brain tumours in children. Prenatal supplementation of folic acid has been shown to decrease the risk of several birth defects. Several studies have recently suggested a potential protective effect of folic acid on certain cancers in children. Researchers from the University of Toronto reviewed numerous studies, from which seven articles were shortlisted to assess the affect of prenatal multivitamins on several paediatric cancers. Based on these data, maternal multivitamin supplementation may prevent an estimated 900 cases of paediatric leukaemia and 300-400 cases of paediatric brain tumours, annually in the United States. The researchers suspect that folic-acid containing multivitamins in particular are behind the decrease in these childhood cancers, but the available data do not allow determination of which of the constituent(s) may cause these protective effects. The results suggest that supplementation with a folic acid-containing multivitamin may be a preferred method for women who are advised to take supplements before and after conceiving.