Pregnant women who take vitamin supplements can reduce the risk of having an underweight baby. A study was conducted on over 8,500 women in Tanzania; half of them received vitamin supplements and the rest got placebos. The percentage of low birth weight baby was more among the placebo recipients when compared to women who took supplements. Babies of low birth weight are more likely to die young, have growth and learning difficulties and may later be prone to diabetes and heart disease. About 20 million low birth-weight babies are born each year, 96 percent of them in developing countries and the researchers suggested that all pregnant women in the developing countries take the vitamin supplements. In light of these findings, we recommend that multivitamins be considered for all pregnant women in developing countries, regardless of their HIV status says Wafaie Fawzi of Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Most developing countries provide prenatal iron and folate supplements to pregnant women free of cost but do not give vitamin supplements; the researchers say that by providing the vitamin supplements in addition to the iron supplements, the developing countries can reduce the percentage of low birth-weight babies in their countries.
