Pre-eclampsia and Calcium link

How exciting that AJOG has published an article linking nutrition with pre-eclampsia. Of course the study was done in Switzerland (where they obviously see a bigger link between nutrition and the increasingly common problems such as pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and so on) as North American physicians have essentially no training and precious little knowledge about the impact of nutrition on expectant mothers.

Calcium supplements reduce pregnancy complications
Source: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2006; Not yet available online

Investigating the effect of calcium supplements on pre-eclampisa, its complications, and death linked to the condition.

Calcium supplements could help prevent the serious complications of pre-eclampsia and, in young women, preterm delivery, research suggests.

Although a treatment to prevent pre-eclampsia remains elusive, a link to calcium deficiency has been suggested.

To explore this possibility further, José Villar (World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland) and co-workers recruited 8300 women who consumed less than half of the amount of calcium recommended during pregnancy. Half of the women were given a 1.5 g calcium supplement each day, while half received placebo.

The incidence of pre-eclampsia was comparable between the two groups, but rates of eclampsia, other severe complications of pre-eclampsia, and severe gestational hypertension were significantly lower in the supplemented women. The "severe maternal morbidity and mortality index" was also significantly reduced with calcium supplementation, as was neonatal mortality.

In women less than 20 years of age - those at highest risk for low calcium and pre-eclampsia complications - calcium supplements tended to protect against preterm and very preterm delivery.

"This large randomized trial in populations with low calcium intake demonstrates that while supplementation with 1.5 g calcium/day did not result in a statistically significant decrease in the overall incidence of pre-eclampsia, calcium significantly increased the risk of its more serious complications," the team concludes.

I hope that this study and others will not only continue to confirm the unflagging lifelong work that the late obstetrician Dr. Brewer has done on the link between nutrition (especially protein, calcium) and pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH), pre-eclampsia, eclampsia/toxemia and HELLP.