Researchers find prenatal multivitamins reduces risk of childhood cancers

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children have found that taking prenatal multivitamins fortified with folic acid can reduce the risk of three common childhood cancers: leukemia, brain tumours and neuroblastoma. This research was published online on February 21, 2007, in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

“Our research indicates that a large proportion of several early childhood cancers can be prevented by taking a prenatal multivitamin before and during pregnancy,” said Dr. Gideon Koren, the study’s principal investigator, director of the Motherisk Program at SickKids, a senior scientist in the SickKids Research Institute and a professor of Paediatrics, Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Medicine and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto. “This affordable approach could contribute to a significant reduction in the number of childhood cancer cases diagnosed each year, which has huge implications for society at large.”

The study examined the findings of seven articles that met the inclusion criteria and found that prenatal supplementation of multivitamins containing folic acid is associated with a 47 per cent protective effect for neuroblastoma, 39 per cent for leukemia and 27 per cent protective effect for brain tumours. While other studies have investigated the effect of prenatal vitamins on rates of paediatric tumours, this is the first systematic review and meta-analysis of prenatal multivitamin use before and during early pregnancy and its protective effect for several paediatric cancers.

This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Research Leadership for Better Pharmacotherapy during Pregnancy and Lactation. The research also received funding from Duchesnay Inc., which did not have a prenatal vitamin on the market during the time covered by this study.

Bonnie - keep in mind this is a meta-analysis, which we take with a grain of salt because there is usually such a disparity in the age groups and degrees of health with mutliple studies. However, in this case, the studies focus on two specific groups of people: prenatal/pregnant women and young children. Moreover, the studies focus on prevention, which is a better model for a review of multiple studies.