Valley included in birth defects study

Researchers at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, along with other universities, have received a $1.4 million grant to further unravel the mystery of what causes birth defects.

In a four-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health, a Texas A&M epidemiology professor and other investigators plan to find out whether certain medications, when taken as part of a high-nitrate diet, can put babies at risk.

The Valley is one of the sites included in the study.

A number of medications, such as certain antibiotics and cold medicines, possibly can form the chemical compound nitrosamine in the stomach when combined with nitrate-heavy foods or water, said lead investigator Jean Brender of Texas A&M. That compound, she said, causes birth defects in animals, according to research.

“We’re looking at whether women who have higher nitrates in their water, or nitrates and nitrites in their food, and take certain medications have higher rates of birth defects,” Brender said.

In a 2004 report, Brender and other researchers studied the nitrosamine-birth defects connection in women on the Texas-Mexico border, including the Rio Grande Valley. The researchers found that women who ate high-nitrate diets, or who had high nitrate levels in their drinking water were at higher risk of having babies with birth defects when they also took certain medicines.

“We realized that it’s not just women on the border who have exposure to nitrates,” Brender said. “So we proposed a larger study.”

The researchers will use data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a 10-state survey that has information on the eating habits, lifestyles, medications, illnesses and environment of thousands of mothers. Investigators also will sample the drinking water of participating mothers from Texas and Iowa, to see if water with high nitrates has played a role in birth-defects cases.

Processed meats, like deli slices or beef jerky, typically contain nitrate or nitrite to add color. Nitrate or nitrite also is added to foods to prevent botulism, a deadly toxin, from forming. Vegetables also can contain nitrate if they were grown with excess fertilizer, according to information from Oregon State University.

The most frequent sources of nitrate in drinking water are fertilizer runoff, sewage or livestock manure, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. All public-water systems must keep nitrate levels below a certain standard.

Brender said that consuming high-nitrate foods or water, without taking certain medications, doesn’t seem to increase the risk of birth defects. It’s the combination of some antibiotics and cold medicines with high-nitrate food that seems to cause the problem, she said.

Researchers also will investigate whether vitamin C has a protective effect against the combination.

Texas State University, the Texas Department of State Health Services, Boston University, the University of Iowa and the University of Arkansas are collaborating on the project with Texas A&M’s School of Rural Public Health, which has campuses in College Station and McAllen.