Maternal supplementation of vitamin B12 in predominantly vegetarian pregnant women improves their vitamin B12 status and the neurodevelopment of their infants: the MATCOBIND multicentric double-blind randomised control trial.

What Was Tested

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

Vitamin B12 deficiency is common in populations with limited animal-source foods and has been linked to delayed infant neurodevelopment and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as infants, young adults and adults, both men and women.

The primary outcomes were infant neurodevelopment assessed at 9-12 months using the Development Assessment Scale of Indian Infants and biochemical B12 status in mothers and infants measured through blood tests.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized and double-blind.

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.

As a double-blind Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

This double-blind, randomised controlled trial was conducted in two tertiary maternity care centres in India and Nepal.

What Was Measured

Vitamin B12 deficiency is common in populations with limited animal-source foods and has been linked to delayed infant neurodevelopment and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Child Development, Diet, Vegetarian, Dietary Supplements, India, Nepal, Neurodevelopment and Vegetarians.

Author keywords: Child Health, Infant, Low and Middle Income Countries and Mothers.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12).

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 11 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2026 (BMJ paediatrics open), a journal based in England.

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