What is it about?
Vitamin B12 is an important vitamin found only in nonvegetarian diet and dairy products, thus people on plant based diets are vulnerable for its deficiency. B12 deficiency affects brain, nerves and blood in all age groups but young infants are especially vulnerable as it can lead to suboptimal growth and development of brain thus affecting their final IQ. This deficiency in infants occurs due to lack of B12 in their mothers and B12 deficient infant foods.
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Why is it important?
Our study shows that quite a large number of infants are B12 deficient and their development is lagging behind. We also saw that vegetarianism in mothers is an important risk factor for B12 deficiency in infants. Thus we need to ensure that mothers get adequate B12 rich diet, also early detection of deficency is necessary to prevent permanent damage.
Perspectives
This article is important to me as it further strengthened my interest in nutritional causes of developmental delay and epilepsy.
Chandrika Azad
Government Medical College and Hospital Chandigarh India
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Vitamin B12 status and neurodevelopmental delay in Indian infants: a hospital-based cross-sectional study, Paediatrics and International Child Health, July 2019, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/20469047.2019.1638130.
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