Increasing calcium dosage for pregnant women with diets low on calcium can help prevent complications at birth, according to a study published recently in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In this study took part healthy pregnant women from Argentina, Egypt, India, Peru, South Africa, and Vietnam, which took calcium tablets on the one side, and placebo on the other side. The women who took calcium tablets had a smaller risk of developing preeclampsia complications, a disease that affects pregnant women, than those who did not. Preeclampsia is characterized by high blood pressure, high levels of proteins in the urine, swelling in the legs and hands. It affects about 9% of pregnancies all over the world; the cause is still unknown and there's no way to prevent it. This disease, if it goes untreated, can lead to seizures, coma and even death of the mother and baby. The study included 8,300 women by their 20th week of pregnancy. The preeclampsia diagnoses were the same for both groups of women. However, in the group of women who took calcium supplements, the risk for preeclampsia complications and for death of the mother and child lowered. Also, the risk for preterm delivery, before 32 weeks, reduced: 2.6% in the calcium group in comparison to 3.2% in the placebo group. The American Institute of Medicine recommended for pregnant women 1,000 to 1,300 milligrams per day. The results of the study are interesting, Dr. Ashley Roman, an assistant at the New York University School of Medicine declared. "It helps us to understand the process of preeclampsia better. When it comes to preeclampsia, we are still in the dark ages. We have been studying it for years, and we don't know what causes it, how to predict it well, and we really don't know how to prevent it," Roman added.