Pregnant women can take common heartburn medications without worry.
A Danish study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at more than 840,000 births from 1996 to 2008, and concludes that there is no evidence that links birth defects to these drugs.
Heartburn, or gastroesophageal reflux, is common in pregnancy, but data on the risk of birth defects from use of the most popular medications (omeprazole, lansoprazole, and esomeprazole) in early pregnancy was limited, so researchers set about analyzing data.
Although more research is needed, the authors concluded that exposure to heartburn medications during the first trimester of pregnancy was not associated with a significantly increased risk of major birth defects.