NEW DELHI, Mar 28: Improving Vitamin B12 supplementation during pregnancy in vegetarian women can benefit early brain development in babies, a new study has found.
The study, published in the journal BMJ Paediatrics Open, was conducted in two centres located in India and Nepal by a joint team of researchers from both these countries and the UK.
According to Dr Jitender Nagpal, Deputy Medical Director of Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research in Delhi, who led the study in India, the findings provide strong evidence that improving Vitamin B12 intake during pregnancy in vegetarian mothers can benefit early brain development in babies while substantially reducing maternal Vitamin B12 deficiency.
Vitamin B12 deficiency is common in populations with limited animal source foods and has been linked to delayed infant neurodevelopment and adverse pregnancy outcomes, the study said.
Evidence on the benefits of maternal Vitamin B12 supplementation for improving infant neurodevelopment remains mixed, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where deficiency is prevalent, the study said. The Vitamin B12 deficiency affects a large proportion of women in South Asia, particularly in populations with low consumption of animal source foods and predominantly vegetarian communities, Dr Nagpal said.
“Despite this high burden, Vitamin B12 remains poorly addressed in routine antenatal care, which continues to focus largely on iron and folic acid. Routine Vitamin B12 supplementation is not currently included in government antenatal guidelines or expert body recommendations in India. As a result, many women enter pregnancy with unrecognised and untreated B12 deficiency, at a time when early brain development is highly sensitive to maternal nutrition,” he said.
In a multicentre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial, vegetarian women in their first trimester of pregnancy were enrolled. They received either a higher daily dose of Vitamin B12 (250 micrograms) or a lower dose (50 micrograms) from early pregnancy until six months after delivery.
Among 531 mother-infant pairs followed up, women in the higher dose group showed markedly greater improvement in Vitamin B12 status, with a relative reduction in biochemical Vitamin B12 deficiency exceeding 30 per cent compared to the lower dose group, Dr Nagpal said.
Crucially, these maternal improvements were accompanied by developmental benefits in infants. “Babies born to mothers receiving the higher dose scored significantly higher on early mental development assessments at 9-12 months of age, while motor development was similar between groups,” Dr Nagpal stated.
Although the individual effect size was modest, even small gains in early cognitive development can translate into substantial population-level benefits in learning potential, educational attainment, and long-term human capital, he emphasised.
Together, these findings suggest that optimising Vitamin B12 intake during pregnancy could represent a simple, safe and low-cost refinement of antenatal nutrition strategies to reduce deficiency, and translate into important population-level gains in learning potential and long-term human capital, Dr Nagpal said. (Agencies)
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