Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Pregnant Women Linked to Birth Defect

by Reuben Chow Natural News Network © 2008
About Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 and Birth DefectsThe 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 StudyFor 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.
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