Maternal Vitamin, Mineral Use May Reduce Risk of Childhood Brain Cancer

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--Vitamin use during pregnancy may be able to reduce the incidence in offspring of neuroblastoma--a malignant childhood tumor that forms from sympathetic nervous system tissues and tends to spread aggressively to other areas of the body--according to research slated to be published in the September issue of Epidemiology (13, 5:575-80, 2002) (www.epidem.com). Andrew F. Olshan, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, and colleagues from Texas, Minnesota and California, concluded that this finding was consistent with findings for other childhood cancers.

Olshan and his colleagues compared 538 cases of children who were diagnosed with neuroblastoma over a two-year period with 504 healthy children selected through random-digit dialing. Vitamin use information was attained for specific periods before and during pregnancy from mothers through telephone interviews. Results indicated that daily vitamin and mineral use in the month before pregnancy and in each trimester during pregnancy was associated with a 30-percent to 40-percent reduction in the risk of neuroblastoma.

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