A London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine team revealed that women who are very underweight before they become pregnant are 72% more likely to miscarry in the first three months of pregnancy.
Researchers studied records of 600 women who had miscarried and 6,000 whose pregnancies continued past 12 weeks.
Women who took vitamin supplements – especially folic acid or iron and multivitamins – in early pregnancy reduced the risk by around 50 per cent. Daily fruit and vegetables also halved the risk.