Vitamin B3 may prevent miscarriages

Taking Vitamin B3 could prevent miscarriages and birth defects, a study on mice suggests.
Researchers from the Victor Chang Institute in Sydney called it "a double breakthrough", as they found both a cause and a preventative solution.

With 7.9 million babies born each year with a birth defect worldwide, the team hopes the benefits are wide-reaching.

But an expert said the findings "cannot be translated into recommendations" for pregnancy.

The researchers analysed the DNA of four families where the mothers had suffered multiple miscarriages or their babies were born with multiple birth defects, such as heart, kidney, vertebrae and cleft palate problems.

They found mutations in two genes that caused the child to be deficient in a vital molecule known as Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), which allows cells to generate energy and organs to develop normally.

Lead researcher Prof Sally Dunwoodie replicated these mutations in mice but found they could be corrected if the pregnant mother took niacin (vitamin B3)