Nutritional B-12 Deficiency in Infants of Vitamin B-12-Deficient Mothers

作者：Halicioglu Oya^*; Akman Sezin Asik; Sutcuoglu Sumer; Atabay Berna; Turker Meral; Akbay Sinem; Yaprak Isin

来源：International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research, 2011, 81(5): 328-334.

DOI：10.1024/0300-9831/a000080

• Infants
• nutritional
• vitamin B-12 deficiency

Aim: Nutritional vitamin B-12 deficiency in infants may occur because the maternal diet contains inadequate animal products. Clinical presentations of the infants who had nutritional vitamin B-12 deficiency were analyzed in this study.
Subjects and Methods: Patients with nutritional vitamin B12 deficiency were enrolled in the study between 2003 and 2010. The diagnosis was based on a nutritional history of mothers and infants, clinical findings, hematological evaluation, and low level of serum vitamin B-12.
Results: Thirty children aged 1-21 months constituted the study group. Poverty was the main cause of inadequate consumption of animal products of the mothers. All infants had predominantly breastfed. The most common symptoms were developmental delay, paleness, apathy, lethargy, anorexia, and failure to thrive. Hematological findings were megaloblastic anemia (83.3 %), thrombocytopenia (30 %), and severe anemia (13.3 %). All of the mothers had low serum B-12 levels; eight of them had megaloblastic anemia.
Conclusion: The unusual clinical manifestations of vitamin B-12 deficiency may also be seen apart from neurological and hematological findings. Nutritional vitamin B-12 deficiency due to maternal deficiency might be a serious health problem in infants. Therefore, screening and supplementation of pregnant and lactating women to prevent infantile vitamin B-12 deficiency should be considered.

• 出版日期2011-9