Vitamin B12 helps fetus, study shows

Joseph Hall, "Vitamin B12 helps fetus, study shows", Toronto Star, May
17, 2007,
Link: http://www.thestar.com/News/article/214879

Women who take a vitamin B12 supplement on top of folic acid could
reduce the chance, by up to 30 per cent, that their baby will be born
with spina bifida, a St. Michael's Hospital study suggests.

While the study of 500 pregnant women will need further research to
verify the protective link against the neural tube defect, the paper's
author says women who want to get pregnant should ensure their vitamin
supplements include B12.

"Folic acid did one of these miracle things that very few therapies
do, which is actually preventing a birth defect," said Dr. Joel Ray, a
clinician-scientist at St. Mike's in Toronto whose paper was published
in the journal Epidemiology. "And if we can up the ante by simply
adding another of the B vitamins, that would be a big deal."

All flour used in Canada contains a folic acid supplement, but many
women trying to conceive take it in pill form to ensure their babies
are protected. Spina bifida and other neural tube defects occur within
28 days of conception - before most women even know they're pregnant -
when the hollow structure that gives rise to the brain and spinal cord
fails to close completely.

Since folic acid was added to flour in 1997, the rate of neural tube
defects has fallen from to one out of every 1,000 births from about
three in 1,000. Ray said the addition of B12 could reduce that by 20
to 30 per cent.

While many prenatal multivitamins contain both folic acid and B12, Ray
said about a quarter of women trying to conceive take folic acid on
its own.

And even without clinical trials pitting B12 against a placebo, Ray
said women planning a baby should take the vitamin, which can do no
harm at the levels found in commercial tablets. He said any quantity
of B12 would likely offer some protection. The study also suggests B12
should be added to flour.

Ray said folic acid and B12 likely assist the cells encompassing the
spinal cord in forming a complete shell around the nerve pathway
during the earliest stages of fetal development.

Past attempts to encourage women to take folic acid before pregnancy
had poor results, partly because many women get pregnant unexpectedly.
A more successful strategy would likely be to add B12 to food.