Millions of pregnant women could be spared the trauma of miscarriage and birth defects thanks to the Australian medical discovery which has found vitamin B3 could hold the key to prevention.
Less than 24 hours into celebrations of baby Charlotte's arrival, Simon Scaife received news of his daughter's devastating diagnosis.
"We had a routine visit from a paediatric doctor and they picked up there was an abnormality with her heart," he said.
The organ was double the normal size with a leaking valve and two holes between the ventricles and the atrium.
Mr Scaife said last month, two-year-old Charlotte underwent open heart surgery to fix the problem.
"It's a very complex operation so there were significant risks and we were very worried about these and we were never guaranteed a successful outcome," he said.
It's hoped a new breakthrough, made at Sydney's Victor Chang Cardia Research Institute, will go some way to ending such trauma for parents and children, with humble vitamin B3 supplements identified as the answer to preventing birth defects and miscarriages.
Victor Chang Professor Richard Harvey has hailed the findings.
"Who would have thought that a simple dietary supplement such as you find in Vegemite could be the key to this," he said.
Scientists at the institute have discovered a major factor in miscarriages and birth defects was a deficiency in a molecule known as N.A.D.
According to lead researcher, Professor Sally Dunwoodie, the molecule is vital for the normal development of organs.
Charlotte Scaife (centre) eats a Vegemite sandwich weeks after receiving surgery for a congenital heart disease. Source: AAP
"We have identified a new cause of birth defects and multiple miscarriages but really importantly have identified a possible prevention and that's in the form of Niacin, or Vitamin B3," she said
Up to 15,000 Australian families are affected by miscarriages and birth defects. Globally, it's more than ten million.
With the cost of treatment and care running into the billions of dollars, scientists say even if they can prevent a small proportion cases it would be a major step forward.
Professor David Winlaw, a surgeon at The Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney, said eight of ten cases of congenital heart disease occur with no apparent cause.
"The impact for the population as a whole would be a very significant reduction in human misery in the early years of life, a very significant decrease in hospital admissions," he said.
And while little Charlotte is well and truly on the mend, the breakthrough has come just a few years late for the her mother Saacha.
"But I am very excited for future familes that they kmay not have to go through these horrible surgeries which would be great," she said.
