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Prenatal Vitamins May Prevent Common Childhood Cancers

TORONTO, CANADA – February 22, 2007 -- Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have found that taking prenatal multivitamins fortified with folic acid can reduce the risk of three common childhood cancers: leukemia, brain tumours and neuroblastoma. This research is in the current issue of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

"Our research indicates that a large proportion of several early childhood cancers can be prevented by taking a prenatal multivitamin before and during pregnancy," said Gideon Koren, the study's principal investigator, director of the Motherisk Program at SickKids, a senior scientist in the SickKids Research Institute and a professor of Paediatrics, Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Medicine and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto. "This affordable approach could contribute to a significant reduction in the number of childhood cancer cases diagnosed each year, which has huge implications for society at large," he said.

The study examined the findings of seven American articles that met the inclusion criteria and found that prenatal supplementation of multivitamins containing folic acid is associated with a 47% protective effect for neuroblastoma, 39% for leukemia and 27% protective effect for brain tumours. While other studies have investigated the effect of prenatal vitamins on rates of paediatric tumours, this is the first systematic review and meta-analysis of prenatal multivitamin use before and during early pregnancy and its protective effect for several paediatric cancers.

Leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, accounts for 25% to 35% of new paediatric cases each year. Brain and spinal tumours, the second most common form of cancer, accounts for 17% of new paediatric cancer cases each year, and neuroblastoma, the most prevalent solid tumour that occurs outside of the brain in children under the age of
five, affects one in every 6,000 to 7,000 children in North America.

Additional research is required to determine which components of a prenatal multivitamin provide protective effect for paediatric cancers and whether any of the protective effects can be attributed to folic acid. A previous study by Motherisk found that prenatal multivitamins fortified with folic acid can reduce the risk of a wide range of serious congenital defects. Women who are considering pregnancy are generally advised to supplement with folic acid but findings of these studies suggest that supplementation with a multivitamin containing folic acid may be a preferred method.

This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Research Leadership for Better Pharmacotherapy during Pregnancy and Lactation. The research also received funding from Duchesnay Inc., which did not have a prenatal vitamin on the market during the time covered by this study.

SOURCE: Hospital for Sick Children

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