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Did you know that babies and children need vitamins such as vitamin B-12 to help their brains and bodies develop and grow? It’s important because babies receive this important vitamin from their mothers through breastfeeding. Therefore, the vitamin B-12 levels of infants strongly depend on maternal levels. Adequacy of vitamin B-12 in breast milk is particularly important for infants during the first six months of life when breastfeeding is highly recommended. Even after the first six months of life, breast milk may continue to be a critical source of vitamin B-12 for infants.
Pregnant and lactating women are at high risk for vitamin B-12 deficiency due to the increased nutritional demands as they provide the micronutrient for themselves and their babies. In some places with low intake of animal-source diets, mother’s and infant’s deficiency in vitamin B-12 is a serious public health challenge.
In resource-limited settings where maternal undernutrition is pervasive, a study found that pregnant women who took high doses of oral vitamin B-12 supplements before delivery experienced short-term benefits on the levels of B-12 in their breast milk. However, women who took high doses of vitamin B-12 supplements during lactation experienced these benefits for a longer period of time.
The study also found that the effect of the prenatal vitamin B-12 supplement diminished when used together with the postnatal supplement. Similarly, the effect of the postnatal vitamin B-12 supplement diminished when used together with the prenatal supplement.
A publication in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in November 2023 titled “The effects of prenatal and postnatal high-dose vitamin B-12 supplementation on human milk vitamin B-12: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in Tanzania” shares the findings of the study.