Excessive vitamin E in pregnancy may affect fetal heart

New York, February 11: Vitamin E could be your best bet if you want a perfectly healthy and glowing skin but pregnant women must exercise caution in its intake as a recent study has linked excess of this vitamin to heart defect in infants.

A study by Dutch researchers states that excessive levels of Vitamin E taken in early pregnancy may put the infant at a risk of being born with a heart defect.

Researchers at Rotterdam concentrated on 276 women who gave birth to babies with heart defects and 324 women whose infants were born healthy.

All the women were asked to fill in food questionnaires, when their babies were almost 16 months old. The questionnaires were to be completed four weeks earlier to the study.

The questionnaires revealed that diet patterns of these women were similar at that time before pregnancy, which was asked in the questionnaire. Analysis found out that women with highest amount of vitamin E intake from diet alone had 70 percent greater chances of having a baby born with a heart defect, while women with low-intake were at a much lower risk.

Dietary vitamin E, together with supplements of the similar vitamin heightened the risk of congenital heart defects from about 5 times to as much as 9 times, as reported by Dr. R. P. M. Steegers-Theunissen and colleagues at University Medical Center in Rotterdam.

The findings of the study are published in the February issue of BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Researchers explained that excessive vitamin E in pregnancy "may imbalance the oxidant/antioxidant state" in the embryonic tissues, leading to such birth defects.

Essentially, vitamin E is known as a fat-soluble vitamin that acts as an antioxidant, which protects the tissues from free radical damage. Free radicals can adversely affect the cells, tissues and organs. Vitamin E is said to play an important role with ageing factors.

Excessive amounts of this vitamin can also cause alteration/modification of genesdefine concerned with the development of embryonic heart and hamper the activity of cellular enzymes, which flush out naturally-occurring toxins.

Vitamin E plays a crucial role in red blood cells formation and assists the body to utilize vitamin K appropriately. It is also associated with conditions related to ageing.

A well-balanced diet is said to be the best way to attain and absorb vitamin E, found naturally in foods like wheat germ, corn, seeds and nuts, olives, leafy green vegetables like spinach, asparagus, Vegetable oils including sunflower, soybean, cottonseed and corn oil.