Vitamin B-12 Supplementation during Pregnancy and Early Lactation Does Not Affect Neurophysiologic Outcomes in Children Aged 6 Years.
BACKGROUND
Deficiency of vitamin B-12 is common in pregnant Indian women. Assessment of neurophysiological measures using event-related potentials (ERPs) may yield additional information on the effects of maternal B-12 supplementation on child brain function.


OBJECTIVES
The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of vitamin B-12 supplementation (50 μg daily orally) during pregnancy on the childhood ERP measures of positive waveform ∼300 ms after stimulus (P300) and mismatch negativity.


METHODS
This study was a follow-up of children born to pregnant women who received oral vitamin B-12 supplements (n = 62) compared with children of pregnant women who received placebo (n = 70) from a randomized controlled trial. The mean ± SD child age was 72 ± 1 mo. We used the Enobio system to assess the ERP measures P300 and mismatch negativity.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences in the primary outcomes, amplitudes, and latencies of the P300 results and the mismatch negativity between children in the supplementation and placebo groups. We combined the intervention and placebo groups for secondary analyses. On multiple variable regression analysis after adjusting for treatment group, intrauterine growth restriction, and home environment, P300 amplitude in children was significantly higher in the lowest tertile of third-trimester maternal methylmalonic acid (MMA) concentrations (β = 3034.04; 95% CI: 923.24, 5144.83) compared with the highest MMA tertile (β = 1612.12; 95% CI: -258.86, 3483.10, P = 0.005).


CONCLUSIONS
While no significant effects of maternal vitamin B-12 supplementation on children's ERP measures were seen at 72 mo, elevated maternal MMA concentrations in the third trimester were negatively associated with P300 amplitude in children. It may be worthwhile to study the impact of maternal and infant vitamin B-12 supplementation on childhood brain structure and function in longer and larger trials. The parent trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00641862.
['Srinivasan|Krishnamachari|K|', 'Thomas|Susan|S|', 'Anand|Shilpa|S|', 'Jayachandra|Mahesh|M|', 'Thomas|Tinku|T|', 'Strand|Tor Arne|TA|', 'Kurpad|Anura V|AV|', 'Duggan|Christopher P|CP|']
D001942:Breast Feeding D002648:Child D002657:Child Development D019587:Dietary Supplements D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007231:Infant, Newborn D007774:Lactation D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena D011247:Pregnancy D014805:Vitamin B 12 D014806:Vitamin B 12 Deficiency D014815:Vitamins
Vitamin B-12 supplementation maternal P300 mismatch negativity child ERP outcome