Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulfate) Cuts Cerebral Palsy Risk in Premature Births
Dr. John Thorp, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor of obstetrics reported that magnesium sulfate or as it is more commonly known, Epsom salt, may cut the rate of cerebral palsy in premature children by nearly 50 percent.
The findings were presented in Dallas to the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine as follows: magnesium sulfate or a placebo was given to 2,241 women going into early labor between 24 to 31 weeks. Although the magnesium did not prevent fatalities among the premature babies, 4.2 percent of the babies born to women given magnesium developed cerebral palsy, as compared to 7.3 percent of those born to women who got the placebo.
The question remains, why were the children born to mothers given magnesium sulfate less likely to develop cerebral palsy?
This remains unanswered, however, the results are promising and given the fact that magnesium sulfate is readily available in most delivery rooms and has common uses such as inhibiting premature labor and is given to women experiencing pre-eclampsia, to prevent them from going into eclampsia, and having a seizure, it is possible that in the future administering magnesium sulfate to mothers experiencing preterm labor will become the standard.
