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Updated: Jun 25, 2025

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes
03:19

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes

Published on: June 28, 2024

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Prenatal Vitamin B12 and Children's Brain Development and Cognitive, Language and Motor Outcomes: A Scoping Review

Fasika Jembere1, Deborah Dewey2,3,4,5

  • 1Undergraduate Medical Education, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada.

Children (Basel, Switzerland)
|May 25, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Maternal vitamin B12 intake during pregnancy is crucial for fetal brain development. However, current research is inconclusive on its impact on children's neurodevelopmental outcomes, necessitating further studies.

Area of Science:

  • Nutritional Neuroscience
  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Adequate maternal vitamin B12 is vital for fetal brain development and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes.
  • Understanding the precise impact of maternal vitamin B12 on child development is crucial for public health.
  • Existing epidemiological data requires comprehensive mapping to identify knowledge gaps.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To conduct a scoping review of human epidemiological studies on maternal vitamin B12 and child neurodevelopment.
  • To map the current evidence regarding associations between prenatal vitamin B12 and children's brain, cognitive, language, and motor development.
  • To identify research gaps and propose future research directions in this field.

Main Methods:

  • A systematic search of PubMed and OVID MEDLINE databases was performed.
  • Search terms included "vitamin B12," "prenatal" or "maternal," and "neurodevelopment" or "cognitive development" or "brain."
  • Studies were included if they assessed maternal vitamin B12 status, intake, supplementation, or deficiency and child neurodevelopmental outcomes (ages <18). Animal studies were excluded. Nineteen of 148 identified publications met the criteria.

Main Results:

  • The scoping review identified 19 relevant human epidemiological studies.
  • Evidence linking maternal vitamin B12 status during pregnancy to children's neurodevelopmental outcomes was found to be inconclusive.
  • Specific associations between vitamin B12 intake, supplementation, or deficiency and various neurodevelopmental domains remain unclear.

Conclusions:

  • The current body of evidence is insufficient to establish a definitive relationship between maternal vitamin B12 and children's neurodevelopmental outcomes.
  • Further high-quality, longitudinal research is essential to clarify the effects of maternal vitamin B12.
  • Future studies should focus on maternal vitamin B12 supplementation, status, and intake to better understand its impact on brain development and neurodevelopmental trajectories.

Keywords:
brain developmentcognitive outcomesmaternalprenatal supplementationvitamin B12

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