Does Vitamin C and E Supplementation Protect Against Preeclampsia in Women with Type 1 Diabetes?

Women with type 1 diabetes have two- to fourfold higher risk for preeclampsia than do women without the condition, perhaps because diabetes confers additional oxidative stress. To investigate the possible role of antioxidant supplementation for preventing preeclampsia in diabetic women, U.K. researchers randomized 762 pregnant women with type 1 diabetes to receive vitamin C (1000 mg daily) and vitamin E (400 IU daily) or identical placebo from enrollment at 8 to 22 weeks' gestation until delivery.

In all, 15% of women who received vitamin supplementation and 19% of women who received placebo developed preeclampsia (risk ratio, 0.81; 95% confidence interval, 0.59–1.12). In a prespecified subgroup analysis of women with low baseline vitamin st…