Research paper
Vitamin B-12, Folic Acid, and Growth in 6- to 30-Month-Old Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Study answer
What this study found
Overall, supplementation produced modest growth benefits, with the clearest signal for vitamin B-12 and the combined vitamin B-12 plus folate regimen. Vitamin B-12 increased weight change slightly versus placebo (1.09 kg vs 1.03 kg; mean difference 0.06, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.13) and improved WAZ change (0.02 vs -0.05; mean difference 0.07, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.13). Folic acid showed a small, non-significant increase in length/height change versus placebo (5.46 cm vs 5.26 cm; mean difference 0.20, 95% CI -0.03 to 0.44), while the combination group had a weight increase of 120 g (95% CI 3 to 210 g)…
- Study & population
- Randomized, placebo-controlled trial in North Indian children aged 6 to 30 months from urban communities in New Delhi.
- Intervention
- Children were randomized to one of three daily oral paste supplements for 6 months: vitamin B-12 (1.8 µg per 10 g), folic acid (150 µg per 10 g), or vitamin B-12 plus folic acid (1.8 µg vitamin B-12 plus 150 µg folic acid per 10 g).
- Key limitation
- Effects were small and some primary comparisons were not statistically significant, limiting certainty about clinical importance.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
BACKGROUND: Folate and vitamin B-12 are important for growth. Many children in low- and middle-income countries have inadequate intakes of these nutrients. METHODS: We undertook a randomized, placebo controlled double-blind trial in 1000 North Indian…