Prevalence of Vitamin B12 Deficiency among Exclusively Breast Fed Term Infants in South India

Objective: Vitamin B12 is not synthesized in the body and its only dietary sources are non-vegetarian. The breast milk of mothers in resource poor countries who are on predominantly vegetarian diets is deficient in vitamin B12. Hence exclusive breast feeding (EBF) may result in B12 deficiency in the infant, which can affect the neurodevelopmental outcome. Our aim was to study the serum vitamin B12 levels among EBF infants and identify the risk factors for B12 deficiency. Method: This cross-sectional study was done among EBF, term, otherwise healthy infants, 1-6 month of age in the well-baby clinic. The sociodemographic data of mother and the infants' anthropometric measurements were noted and blood samples were sent for complete blood count and serum vitamin B12 levels. The data were analysed using SPSS software version 16. Results: We enrolled 149 EBF infants, aged 1-6 months and the mean age was 3.1 (+/- 1.03) months. The mean serum vitamin B12 level was 199.91 (+/- 112.523) pg/ml. Low serum vitamin B12 levels (<200 pg/ml) was seen in 95 (63.7%) infants. On multivariate analysis, there were no other significant risk factors for B12 deficiency in the infants. Conclusion: The prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency among EBF infants is 63.7%. Because of its importance in neurological development during infancy, there is an urgent need to address this issue while promoting exclusive breast feeding.