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SMOKING: PROTECTION AGAINST NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS?

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Swedish researchers have some surprising news for pregnant women who smoke: a decreased risk of neural tube defects in babies. Reuters reports that scientists from the Tornblad Institute made the unexpected finding while investigating the link between obesity and neural tube defects.

 The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (6/98), evaluated 1.2 million babies born between 1983 and 1993 whose mothers smoked during their first trimester. Of the total, only 621 infants had neural tube defects, a surprisingly low number when held up against statistics for the general population. 

Study authors say they need to do more research to establish the findings.  This is the essence of sound science -- conducting research to confirm findings.  We will post the results as they occur.