Public health authorities often recommend that expecting mothers consume dietary supplements, particularly those containing vitamin B9, also known as folate. Now, a recent study has suggested that a similar nutrient, vitamin B2, may help reduce the risk of a rare birth defect.

The report appeared in the journal human Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In it, researchers announced that they have mapped the structure of a special organic molecule, called the CYPOR enzyme.

If inherited, a disorder called Antley-Bixler syndrome causes this enzyme to be misfolded, resulting in serious malformation of a child’s head and reproductive glands. The team – which hails from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, the Medical College of Wisconsin and Charles University in Prague – commented that riboflavin (vitamin B2) appears to prevent this misfolding.

They concluded that riboflavin supplementation during pregnancy may help reduce the risk of the disorder. Besides being found in liver, almonds, wheat bran, cheese and fish, riboflavin can also be consumed in the form of vitamin supplements.