what they said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

Taking prenatal multivitamins fortified with folic acid helps reduce the risk of three common childhood cancers, Canadian researchers say.

In Wednesday's issue of the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Dr. Gideon Koren, director of the Motherrisk program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, reviewed the findings of seven articles on prenatal supplements.

"Our research indicates that a large proportion of several early childhood cancers can be prevented by taking a prenatal multivitamin before and during pregnancy," said Koren...

The original article can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/02/21/prenatal-cancer.html?ref=rss

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what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

This article is making the claim that mother's who take "prenatal multivitamins fortified with folic acid helps reduce the risk of three common childhood cancers". This claim is based on results from seven studies which compared "cancer rates among young children whose mothers said they took the vitamins compared to those whose mothers did not take the supplements".

This article offers estimated data on the reduced risk of certain cancers based on vitamin intake that was self-reported. It uses relative risk reductions which are less helpful than had the effects been presented as absolute reductions. It is good to see, however, that the author adds that more research needs to be done to back up these findings.

What is also important to know in studies like this is if there is a financial conflict of interest of the study team and the manufacturers of multivitamins. The author should have gone the extra mile to find out.

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