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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – According to a new study, treating mothers with vitamin C antioxidants during pregnancy can protect the fetus against high blood pressure and heart disease in adulthood.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the world and it is widely believed that human genes interact with traditional lifestyle risk factors such as smoking, obesity or an inactive lifestyle to increase risk. of cardiovascular disease.
The new study – conducted on a group of sheep by researchers at the University of Cambridge – found that children born to complicated pregnancies because of chronic hypoxia showed increased signs of cardiovascular disease such as Hypertension and blood vessels.
Chronic hypoxia or lower normal oxygen levels in the fetus are one of the most common outcomes of complex pregnancies, due to placental problems, such as preeclampsia, diabetes gestational or maternal smoking.
The present study, published in the journal Bios Biology, advocated a new way of thinking about heart disease in a long-term perspective, focused on prevention rather than treatment.
The team used pregnant sheep to demonstrate that treating the mother with antioxidant vitamin C during a complicated pregnancy could protect offspring from hypertension and heart disease.
Vitamin C has proven to be a relatively weak antioxidant and, although the Cambridge study provides evidence of this principle, future work will focus on identifying alternative treatments to antioxidants that may be available. Prove effective in human clinical practice.
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