FOR us, oxygen is a benign gas essential to life, but for a developing fetus
it can be a killer. One in six pregnancies comes to a premature end, and oxygen
may play a key role in these miscarriages, according to scientists who have
measured levels of oxygen in the placenta through the first third of
pregnancy.
The results have encouraged senior obstetrician Lesley Regan of Imperial
College, London, to advocate testing whether high doses of antioxidant vitamins
could reduce the risk of miscarriage. One of the researchers, Graham Burton of
Cambridge University, says, “There might well be women, not…
