Washington, Apr 8 (IANS): Taking vitamin C and E supplements in early pregnancy does not reduce the risk for hypertensive disorders and their complications during pregnancy, says a new study.

The supplements notably failed to reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia, a potentially fatal form of hypertension in pregnancy.

The findings contradict suggestions in some previous small studies that the vitamins could reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia. Those studies were not confirmed in subsequent larger studies.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) study, the largest to date and one in which treatment was started earliest in pregnancy, also showed no reduction in pregnancy-associated hypertension and its complications.

"The study results effectively rule out vitamin C and E supplements as a means to prevent the hypertensive disorders seen in pregnancy," said Alan E. Guttmacher, acting director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Major funding for the study was also provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, with additional funding provided by the National Center for Research Resources' Clinical and Translational Science Awards program, both of the NIH, said an NICHD release.

The findings appeared in the Thursday issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.