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CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS AND MATERNAL DIET 4
Author(s) -
PITT DAVID B.,
SAMSON PATRICIA E.
Publication year - 1961
Publication title -
australasian annals of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 0571-9283
DOI - 10.1111/imj.1961.10.4.268
Subject(s) - niacin , embryo , thiamine , teratology , physiology , folic acid , biology , organogenesis , b vitamins , pregnancy , endocrinology , medicine , gestation , biochemistry , genetics , gene
Summary Nutritional deficiency has been shown by many workers to be teratogenic to the animal embryo. Vitamins of the B group especially appear to be essential for normal organogenesis. This is consistent with the known general functions of the B vitamins, which, acting as intracellular enzymes, promote rapid cell growth, for example, in the adult hæmatopoietic and gastro‐intestinal systems. In this study an attempt has been made to detect deficiencies in the diets of 99 mothers who bore malformed children. When their estimated diets were compared with those of a matched control series, some small differences were found in several groups of malformation, especially congenital heart disease and talipes. The most usual differences were in iron and the B group vitamins, thiamine and niacin ; but whether these differences are biologically important cannot be stated. No differences were found in mongolism and spina bifida.