Vitamin C deficiency may be a major cause of brain damage to new babies, researchers have warned.
A Danish study has shown the potential effects of pregnant women not having enough of the vitamin in their diet.
The researchers say even small amounts of deficiency could affect the memory capacity of the brain in its hippocampus region.
So far the problem has been identified in laboratory guinea pigs, which like humans must get vitamin C from their diet, according to a report in PLoS One.
The researchers say up to 20% of adults in the world’s wealthiest countries may have inadequate vitamin C in their diet.
Researcher Jens Lykkesfeldt, of Copenhagen University, Denmark, said: "People with low economic status who eat poorly – and perhaps also smoke – often suffer from vitamin C deficiency.
"Comparatively speaking, their children risk being born with a poorly developed memory potential. These children may encounter learning problems, and seen in a societal context, history repeats itself because these children find it more difficult to escape the environment into which they are born.
"Because it takes so little to avoid vitamin C deficiency, it is my hope that both politicians and the authorities will become aware that this can be a potential problem."
He said normally a pregnant woman’s body would make up for nutritional deficiencies by selectively passing on extra amounts to the baby. But the laboratory studies suggested it did not happen for vitamin C.
* New mothers should eat more fish oil and other omega 3 substances to help stave off post-natal depression, according to a new study.
A review by Gabriel Shapiro of the University of Montreal and the Research Centre at the Sainte-Justine Mother and Child Hospital, Canada, concluded that there could be a link between pregnancy, omega 3 and the chemical reaction that enables serotonin, a mood regulator, to be released into the brain.
Omega-3 is found in oily fish, eggs and a range of other foods.
The researcher, whose findings are published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, said women are at the highest risk of depression during their childbearing years, and the birth of a child may trigger a depressive episode in vulnerable women.
Post-natal depression – also called postpartum depression – is linked to diminished maternal health and developmental and health problems for the child.
Because omega 3 is transferred from the mother to the foetus and later to the breastfeeding infant, maternal omega 3 levels decrease during pregnancy, and remain lowered for at least six-weeks following the birth.
“These findings suggest that new screening strategies and prevention practices may be useful,” he said, adding that further research was needed to clarify the link and identify the reasons for it.
Emerging Risk Factors for Postpartum Depression: Serotonin Transporter Genotype and Omega-3 Fatty Acid Status. Shapiro G et al. CanJPsychiatry 2012;57(11):704–712
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