Vitamin eases morning sickness

Pregnant women who suffer early-morning sickness and nausea can be helped by taking B6, researchers have discovered.

Perhaps this should read "rediscovered" because the good effects of the supplement have been known since the 1940s. It got a bad press in the US and was eventually taken off the market because it was believed to cause birth defects when used with doxylamine. However, the worries surrounded doxylamine, and not the B6 element, called pyridoxine.

Researchers decided to retest the efficacy of the treatment, but this time just by using pyridoxine. They carried out a large, double-blind study among 342 pregnant women from Thailand; half were given pyridoxine, and the rest were given a placebo.

Over a five-day trial, the pyridoxine group reported a great improvement in their nausea and vomiting attacks (Am J Obstet Gynecol, September 1995).