Antioxidant Use in Diabetes to Reduce Oxidative Stress

Dietary supplementation with antioxidant vitamins, such as Vitamin C and Vitamin E, reduces malformation rates in embryos of diabetic animals. However, human trials exploring the benefits of these antioxidant vitamins have produced unsatisfactory results in trials designed to alleviating diabetic retinopathy, cardiovascular disease, and preeclampsia in pregnancies. The investigators hypothesize that more potent, and better-targeted antioxidants, such as N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids(PUFA), will be successful in preventing birth defects in the offspring of women with diabetes.