Here's Why This Vitamin May Be "The Most Important Discovery For Pregnant Women"

For pregnant women, preventing miscarriages and birth defects might be as easy as taking an extra pill each day, according to a new study. And even though vitamin B3 isn't officially considered a prenatal vitamin yet, it's still pretty easy to come by.

Researchers from the Victor Chang Institute in Australia investigated why certain women have more miscarriages than others, and the results were very telling.

They found that expecting mothers are more likely to lose the baby if they have extremely low levels of a molecule called NAD — or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. NAD is also very important when it comes to babies' organs developing correctly, so the more of these molecules soon-to-be mamas have, the less likely their child will be born with birth defects.

"Arguably, it's the most important discovery for pregnant women since folate," said lead researcher Professor Sally Dunwoodie in an interview with ABC News.

And although their findings have only been tested on mice thus far, doctors believe the research could go a long way in preventing miscarriages and birth defects in humans down the line.

If you're pregnant, you can get a healthy dose of vitamin B3 in foods like eggs, cheese, turkey, salmon, nuts, and seeds or go the supplement route and pick up a bottle at a local drug store.