Dataset Information

Forms and Amounts of Vitamin B12 in Infant Formula: A Pilot Study.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Infant formula is based on cow's milk and designed to mimic breast milk for substitution. Vitamin B12 (B12) is bound to proteins in both breast milk and cow's milk, and in milk from both species the vitamin occurs mainly in its natural form such as hydroxo-B12 with little or no synthetic B12 (cyano-B12). Here we test commercially available infant formulas.

Methods

Eleven commercially available infant formulas were measured for content of B12 and analyzed for the presence of B12-binding proteins and forms of B12 using size exclusion chromatography and HPLC.

Results

All infant formulas contained B12 by and large in accord with the informations given on the package inserts. None of the formulas contained protein-bound B12, and cyano-B12 accounted for 19-78% of the total amount of B12 present, while hydroxo-B12 constituted more or less the rest.

Conclusions

This pilot study shows that infant formula differs from breast milk in providing the infant with free B12, rather than protein-bound B12, and by a relative high content of cyano-B12. The consequence of supplying the infant with synthetic cyano-B12 remains to be elucidated.

SUBMITTER: Greibe E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5112923 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Maternal nutritional status during pregnancy impacts fetal brain development. Vitamin B12 plays a vital role in neuronal development. However, findings from studies on the association between maternal B12 status and child cognitive functions have been inconsistent. We performed a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of oral B12 supplementation (50?µg) beginning at <14?weeks of gestation through a 6-week post-partum. In the present study, we report the effects of maternal B12 supplementation on cognitive development in infants at 9?months of age on Bayley Scales of Infant Development-III (BSID-III). One hundred eighty-three pregnant women received vitamin B12, and 183 received placebo. Nine-month BSID-III development score was available in 178 infants. There were no significant differences in maternal sociodemographic characteristics and baseline biochemical measures between infants who underwent BSID-III evaluation and infants who were not evaluated. There were no significant differences in any of the subscales of BSID-III between infants born to mothers who received B12 supplementation (n?=?78) vs. placebo (n?=?100). On multiple regression analysis, elevated maternal total homocysteine (tHcy) levels adjusted for treatment group, birthweight, parity, income and home environment at second trimester of pregnancy were significantly negatively associated with expressive language (??=?3.13 points, P?<?0.001), and in third trimester of pregnancy with expressive language (??=?-2.29 points, P?<?0.001) and fine motor (??=?-1.41 points, P?=?0.005) domains of BSID-III. While no significant effects of maternal B12 supplementation were seen on cognitive development in infants at 9?months of age, elevated maternal tHcy levels were associated with poorer cognitive performance in some of the subdomains of BSID-III. In pregnant women with elevated tHcy levels and or B12 deficiencies, it may be worthwhile to study the impact of longer term maternal supplementation on infant cognitive outcomes.