B12
Nutritional Medicine
Birth defects
Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Pregnant Women Linked to Birth Defect
Sunday, April 05, 2009
http://www.naturalnews.com
(NaturalNews) A study recently published in the journal Pediatrics has
revealed that women who do not have an adequate intake of vitamin B12 during
pregnancy are at greater risk of having a child with a birth abnormality called
neural tube defect.
About Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 and Birth Defects
The researchers had noted that folic acid fortification in food had helped to
lower the prevalence of neural tube defects by about 50% to 70%. As it was not
likely that levels of folic acid added would be increased anymore to further
help prevent neural tube defect occurrence, they set out to investigate another
modifiable risk factor - vitamin B12. This nutrient was chosen due to the fact
that it was metabolically related to folic acid, and also because previous
research had suggested that mothers who gave birth to babies affected by the
condition tended to have low levels of it.
Details and Findings of Study
For the study, the team looked at data on pregnancy vitamin B12 levels of close
to 1,200 Irish women, at a time when food fortification or consumption of
vitamin supplements was still uncommon. Three separate groups of women, each
having a sub-group of pregnancies hit by neural tube defect and a sub-group
which acted as controls, were used. The first group compared with controls women
when they had a pregnancy affected by neural tube defect; the second group
compared with controls women who had previously been affected by the condition
but whose present pregnancy was not; and the third group was similar to the
first group.
The researchers found that women whose children had been affected by the said
defect had markedly lower levels of vitamin B12 in their blood. This was
consistent throughout the three groups. After adjustment, the risk of a woman in
the lowest vitamin B12 quartile having a child hit by neural tube defect was two
to three times that of a woman in the highest quartile.
Highest risks were found for women who had pregnancy blood vitamin B12 levels of
less than 250 ng/L. The study team suggested that, to reduce their risk of
having pregnancies affected by neural tube defect, women boost their vitamin B12
levels to above 300 ng/L (or 221 pmol/L) before conceiving. Having sufficient
amounts of folic acid and vitamin B12 before getting pregnant is
important, because these nutrients seem to be most vital in an embryo's first
few days and weeks. And, as about half of all pregnancies are not planned, women
of childbearing age are currently advised to consume at least 400 micrograms of
folic acid each day.
Findings of another Study in Canada
The findings of this study were mirrored in those of another recent study which
was conducted in Canada and published in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition. The researchers in the Canadian study had found that the risk of
neural tube defects was three times as high in pregnant women whose vitamin B12
levels were in the lower quartile; this applied whether the data was collected
before or after folic acid fortification took place in the country. They
concluded that their findings suggest vitamin B12 fortification may help cut the
rate of neural tube defects more than folic acid fortification alone.
Vegans Are More At Risk of Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Vitamin B12 is commonly found in meats, milk, cheese and eggs. As the vitamin
does not occur naturally in plant foods, vegans tend to be at higher risk of
being deficient in it.
The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) is a non-profit organization which is
dedicated to educating the public on vegetarianism and connected issues such as
health, nutrition, ecology, ethics and world hunger. According to them, possible
sources of vitamin B12 for vegans include certain sources of nutritional yeast,
fortified cereals, fortified soy milk, fortified meat analogues (foods made
using wheat gluten or soybeans to resemble animal flesh), as well as vitamin B12
supplements. Foods such as tempeh, miso and sea vegetables are sometimes said to
have vitamin B12, although they are not considered reliable sources of it.
References
Molloy AM et al. Maternal Vitamin B12 Status and Risk of Neural Tube Defects in
a Population With High Neural Tube Defect Prevalence and No Folic Acid
Fortification.
Pediatrics 2009;123(3):917-923.
Thompson MD et al. Vitamin B-12 and neural tube defects: the Canadian
experience. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2009;89(2):697S-701S.
"Vitamin B-12 deficiency tied to neural tube birth defects" by Liz Szabo, USA
Today. Updated 3/1/2009.
Vegetarian Resource Group website (VRG.org)About the author
Reuben Chow has a keen interest in natural health and healing as well as
personal growth. His website,
All 4 Natural Health,
offers a basic guide on natural health information. It details simple, effective
and natural ways, such as the use of
nutrition, various
herbs,
herb remedies, supplements and other
natural remedies, to deal with various health conditions as well as to
attain good health. His other websites also cover topics such as
depression help,
omega 3 fatty acids,
as well as
cancer research and information.