ABSTRACT
Preeclampsia is a common disorder in pregnancy which threatens maternal and fetus life. Hypertension disorders are the third major cause of maternal mortality. Oxidative stress has an important role in pathophysiology of preeclampsia, and the toxicity of free radical oxygen is neutralized at presence of antioxidants such as vitamin C, E and beta-carotene. In this case control study, 103 women with preeclampsia and 100 women with normal pregnancy have been studied during postpartum hospital stay. Food Frequency Questionnaire was completed by them and their blood sample was collected in order to determine the concentration of intra leukocyte ascorbic acid. Data have been analyzed by using of statistical test such frequency student t-test, Mann Whiteny U, Pearson correlation coeficient and chi-square. The daily mean number of fruit and vegetable consumption in the control group was higher than the case group. However the difference between two groups was not significant. Only 17.5% of cases and 16% of controls consumed less than the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. The daily mean consumption of ascorbic acid in the case group was significantly lower than the, control group. [P=0.04]. 18.4% of cases and 13% of controls consumed vitamin C less than the daily recommended value of 85 mg. The mean level of leukocyte ascorbic acid in the control was lower than case group. But the difference was not significant between two groups. In. spite of weak correlation between leukocyte ascorbic acid level and vitamin C consumption in all of the study subjects and in the case group, significant positive correlation was observed in the control group [p =0.02, r =0.2]. The increased mean of intra leukocyte ascorbic acid in case group can be due to the response to the oxidative stress of preaclamsia or can be caused by halting of ascorbic acid transfer from maternal blood to fetus or both of them. The weak correlation between intra leukocyte ascorbic acid density and the consumption of vitamin C may be produced by reasons which have been mentioned above or can be due to incorrect food production which it contains. According to these results, the consumption of foods which contain vitamin C, can prevent or control severity of preeclampcia in the pregnancy period