Malnutrition: Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Children is Huge Yet Overlooked

Vitamin B12 deficiency is an enormous yet overlooked problem. Also, B12 deficiency can lead to poor motor development and anemia in children.

Vitamin B12 deficiency in infants and children is huge and can lead to poor motor development and anemia, reveals a new study.

For many years, there has been a focus on vitamin A, zinc and iron deficiencies when it comes to malnutrition across the globe, whereas there is a paucity of research on B12 deficiency.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment & Prevention
Deficiency of vitamin B12 can result in hematological, neurological and psychological complications which are life-threatening.

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A child's gut can absorb 1 microgram of B12 per meal and therefore, the necessary amount of vitamin B12 should be divided across several meals.

A lack of vitamin B12 doesn't just potentially lead to anemia, it can damage the nervous system. And for young children, B12 is crucial for brain development.

"B12 deficiency is one of the most overlooked problems out there when it comes to malnutrition. And unfortunately, we can see that the food relief we provide today is not up to the task," said Henrik Friis, first author of the study and a professor at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports.

A team from University of Copenhagen and Doctors Without Borders conducted a study among 1,000 children with acute malnutrition aged 6-23 months in Africa's Burkina Faso.

Pure Vegetarian Diet Can Lead to Vitamin B12 Deficiency
An obsession with eating vegetarian food can lead to vitamin B12 deficiency, which is usually available in animal products like eggs, dairy products and sea food.

The results, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, showed a strong correlation between vitamin B12 deficiency and poor motor development and anemia.

The children's B12 levels were measured both before and after three months of daily food relief rations containing the recommended B12 content. During the period when children were provided with food relief, their B12 levels increased, before decreasing considerably once the program was stopped.

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Deficiency of B12 during pregnancy predisposes children to various metabolic conditions like type-2 diabetes.

Even after three months of food relief, one-third of the children continued to have low or marginal levels of B12 stored. The unfortunate explanation is that there is a cap on how much B12 can be absorbed.

"A child's gut can only absorb 1 microgram of B12 per meal. So, if a child is lacking 500 micrograms, it will take much longer than the few weeks that they have access to emergency food relief," explained Vibeke Brix Christensen, pediatrician and medical advisor with Doctors Without Borders.

Ways to Avoid Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Vegetarians
Though vitamin B12 is usually obtained from animal sources, vegetarians also have several options to obtain this vitamin in the diet.

She points out that it might make a difference to divide the necessary amount of vitamin B12 across several meals, which would probably allow children to absorb the same amount of B12 each time.

Source-IANS