Mittal Medha, Bansal Vijayashri, Jain Rahul, Dabla Pradeep Kumar
1 Department of Pediatrics, Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, New Delhi, India.
Food Nutr Bull. 2017 Jun;38(2):209-215. doi: 10.1177/0379572117697535. Epub 2017 Mar 7.
Vitamin B12 deficiency in early life can adversely affect the growth of developing brain with myriad of neurodevelopmental manifestations. At this age, the deficiency is usually the result of low maternal levels.
To assess the vitamin B12 status of healthy exclusively breast-fed Indian infants aged 1 to 6 months and their mothers.
One hundred term exclusively breast-fed infants aged 1 to 6 months attending pediatric outpatient department were recruited. Hemogram, serum B12, folate, and ferritin levels were obtained from each infant-mother pair.
The prevalence of B12 deficiency in infants was found to be 57%. Forty-six percent of mothers were deficient. There was a positive correlation ( r = .23) between the B12 levels of the infants and their mothers.
There is a high prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in Indian infants and their mothers. There is an urgent need to supplement our population with vitamin B12, and the best time to do this would be antenatal.
生命早期的维生素B12缺乏会对发育中的大脑生长产生不利影响，并伴有多种神经发育表现。在这个年龄段，这种缺乏通常是母亲体内维生素B12水平低所致。
评估1至6个月健康纯母乳喂养的印度婴儿及其母亲的维生素B12状况。
招募了100名年龄在1至6个月、前来儿科门诊就诊的足月纯母乳喂养婴儿。采集了每对母婴的血常规、血清维生素B12、叶酸和铁蛋白水平。
发现婴儿中维生素B12缺乏的患病率为57%。46%的母亲缺乏维生素B12。婴儿与其母亲的维生素B12水平之间存在正相关（r = 0.23）。
印度婴儿及其母亲中维生素B12缺乏的患病率很高。迫切需要给我们的人群补充维生素B12，而最佳时机是在产前。
