Pregnant Women Who Don’t Quit Smoking Should At Least Take Vitamin C

A pregnant woman who smokes harms her developing fetus. But if she can’t quit, she should at least take vitamin C to help protect her baby’s lungs.

By studying the lung function of 159 newborns, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children’s Hospital found that smoking moms who took 500 mg daily of vitamin C gave birth to babies with better lungs.

“Smoking during pregnancy is known to adversely affect the lung development of the developing baby,” says researcher Cindy McEvoy, M.D. “We found that daily use of vitamin C by smoking pregnant woman significantly improved pulmonary function tests administered to their offspring at about 48 hours postpartum.

“Getting women to quit smoking during pregnancy has to be priority one, but this study provides a way to potentially help the infants born to at least 12% of pregnant women who cannot quit smoking when pregnant. Vitamin C supplementation may block some of the in-utero effects of smoking on fetal lung development,” she adds.