A new study suggests that thousands of premature births a year could be prevented if women made sure they took folic acid – a form of vitamin B – not just when they get pregnant, but also in the run up to pregnancy. In the UK around 45,000 babies are born prematurely each year and they have a higher risk of breathing problems, life threatening infections and learning and other disabilities (with the most premature babies being the worst affected) than those babies born at full term.

Researchers from the University of Texas found that women who took the supplement for at least a year before conception were up to 70 per cent less likely to give birth prematurely. Pregnant women are already advised to take folic acid from when they stop using contraception until 12 weeks into pregnancy to cut their babies’ risk of developing birth and spine defects, such as spina bifida, but this new study makes it clear that they should consider taking it long before they try to start a family.

 

The study tracked the pregnancies of almost 35,000 women. Some of the women had taken folic acid for at least a year before becoming pregnant, others for shorter periods of time and others not at all. Over 1,600 women gave birth to premature babies and it was found that taking folic acid for more than a year cut the odds of the baby being born before 28 weeks by 70 per cent and the chances of birth between 28 and 32 weeks by half. Using the supplement for less than a year had a smaller effect. Researchers speculate that folic acid cuts the risk of infection, a common cause of premature births.

 

In my opinion all women should take 400mcg of folic acid a day – the amount advised to prevent spina bifida in pregnant women – from well before they plan to start a family. (It’s contained in that amount in the Fertility Plus for Women supplement I use in the clinic.)

Carrying excess weight has often been linked with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, and now recent research has confirmed the link with cancer. Scientists believe that thousands of lives could be saved from cancer each year if people simply lost some weight.

The World Cancer Research Fund study found that being overweight is linked to around 19,000 deaths from the disease each year – deaths that could have been prevented if these people had just been at a healthy weight. Researchers involved in the study believe that people could avoid getting cancer if they managed to maintain a body mass index (BMI) of between 19 and 25. The cancers that could be prevented include breast, bowel, oesophagus, kidney, pancreas, endometrium and gall bladder.

 

The cancer research fund is advising people to aim to be as lean as possible without becoming underweight. It stresses that after quitting smoking, a healthy weight is the most important thing a person can do for cancer prevention. The scientists believe that about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented if people ate healthily, were physically active and maintained a healthy weight.

 

This study comes one month after research revealing that a diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables has also been shown to significantly reduce the risk of cancer. Other studies have shown that a daily portion of mushrooms and a handful of walnuts were shown to help reduce breast cancer risk by up to a third; eating oily fish rich in omega 3 was shown to prevent prostate cancer and eating broccoli can prevent stomach cancer.

A new study (by Japanese scientists in the British Journal of Sports Medicine) suggests that playing ball games like tennis and netball in your teens can make women’s bones stronger forty years later. The scientists interviewed post menopausal women about the kind of exercise they took in their teens and it appears that the more weight bearing exercise a girl takes between the ages of 12 and 18 the more her bone density is likely to be protected after the menopause. High impact sports like sprinting can also be beneficial.