Vitamin B-12 supplementation during pregnancy and early lactation increases maternal, breast milk, and infant measures of vitamin B-12 status.

Study answer

What this study found

Vitamin B-12 supplementation improved maternal, breast milk, and infant vitamin B-12 status, but it did not clearly improve birth outcomes. In the vitamin B-12 group, median maternal plasma B-12 was higher than placebo in the second trimester (216 vs 112 pmol/L, P < 0.001) and third trimester (184 vs 105 pmol/L, P < 0.001), and breast milk B-12 at 6 weeks postpartum was higher (136 vs 87 pmol/L, P < 0.0005). Infant status also improved at 6 weeks, with higher plasma B-12 (199 vs 139 pmol/L, P < 0.001) and lower MMA (0.09 vs 0.16 mmol/L, P = 0.022) and homocysteine (10.9 vs 21.0 mmol/L, P <…

Study & population

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in pregnant women aged at least 18 years in urban Bangalore, India.

Intervention

Oral vitamin B-12 50 mg daily from enrollment through 6 weeks postpartum, compared with placebo.

Key limitation

Biochemical follow-up sample sizes were smaller than the randomized cohort, especially for infant and breast milk measures, which may limit precision.

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Original abstract