B12 Nutritional Deficiency Blog

B12 Deficit May Boost Risk of Birth Defects

Posted 2 Mar 2009 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, March 2 – Women who do not have enough vitamin B12 in their blood before and after conception have a greater chance of having a baby with brain or spinal cord defects, a new study says. Most at risk may be vegans and vegetarians, since B12 is far more common in meat and animal-based foods, noted an American and Irish research team whose findings were published in the March issue of Pediatrics.. According to the study, women with low levels of B12 had at least 2.5 times the risk of giving birth to a child with these neural tube defects, which can lead to partial paralysis or even death, than women with the highest B12 levels. "Vitamin B12 is essential for the functioning of the nervous system and for the production of red blood cells," Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in a news release ... Read more

Related support groups: Vitamin B12 Deficiency, B12 Nutritional Deficiency