Association of antenatal vitamin B complex supplementation with neonatal vitamin B12 status: evidence from a cluster randomized controlled trial.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Evidence about the effect of maternal vitamin B12 supplementation on offspring's vitamin B12 status is limited.

The present interventional study sought to evaluate the association of antenatal vitamin B complex supplementation with neonatal vitamin B12 status.

Linear mixed models with a random intercept for cluster were used to compare biochemical indexes between groups after controlling for covariates.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 331 participants were involved.

PubMed tags the participants as women only.

In an ongoing cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in three rural counties in northwest China, pregnant women < 20 weeks of gestation were randomized to three treatment groups: blank control, iron supplements, or vitamin B complex supplements.

All women were administered folic acid supplements during the periconceptional period.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

Because people in this Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

In a sub-study, the researchers collected cord blood samples of 331 participants from the control or vitamin B complex groups in the Xunyi county from January 2017 to December 2017.

Plasma concentrations of folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine were measured.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are China, Dietary Supplements, Folic Acid, Homocysteine, Vitamin B 12 and Vitamin B Complex.

Author keywords: Antenatal vitamin B complex supplementation, Cluster randomized controlled trial, Newborns, Rural northwest china and Vitamin B12 status.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12) in 331 participants.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 3 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2021 (European journal of nutrition), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12) compound page, all human trials.