What causes birth defects in children? Why do some women have repeated miscarriages? Is there a connection with vitamin B3?
A new study from Sydney, Australia could provide some answers, bringing hope to couples around the world. Lead researcher Professor Sally Dunwoodie and her team at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute have discovered that vitamin B3 could prevent a number of serious birth defects in babies.
Pioneering work, which began in 2005, have now revealed that birth defects and miscarriages sometimes occur if a pregnant woman has a genetic mutation related to the molecule nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD).
The discovery came about after Professor Dunwoodie and her team encountered a baby with major heart, lung, backbone and rib problems. These were found to be connected to a particular gene mutation affecting the production of NAD (essential for DNA synthesis and helping cells store energy).
A related gene mutation was found in another family in 2012, this, Dunwoodie says, was their Eureka moment. No-one before had connected NAD as a contributory factor in bone or heart development in fetuses.
Tests were conducted on pregnant mice with similar genes missing from their DNA and this revealed that low levels of NAD could be linked to birth defects and miscarriage. When experts supplemented the rodents’ food with Vitamin B3 (which is needed to make NAD) they managed to cure this deficiency. In turn, the mice gave birth to pups with minor defects and the mice on a higher vitamin dosage gave birth to healthy offspring.
These experiments suggest that the humble B3 vitamin could prove effective for families who have mutations in NAD-related genes – the long-term outlook could spell new and exciting possibilities for the prevention of birth defects or even for treating those with NAD deficiency.
While clinicians already understand the hugely beneficial role of folic acid and Vitamin B9 supplements in the prevention of spinal cord defects, it will be interesting to see if this new development has the potential to affect the rate of birth problems and miscarriages in the long term.