So, tomorrow we are having a journal club at work (no, we are not sitting around reading each other’s diaries) where I have chosen an article, which we are going to discuss.

Kvestad et al. 2017 “Vitamin B-12 status in infancy is positively associated with development and cognitive functioning 5 y later in Nepalese children”[1]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28330909

I’m currently doing research on Vitamin B₁₂, cognition and metabolism in early life (0-3 years of age) and the reason I’m interested in vitamin B₁₂ during this period of life is that it is essential for the brain and the intellectual development of the child.

The study in the article shows some very convincing associations between higher vitamin B₁₂ status at age 2-12 months and better cognitive outcomes in 5-year-old children. They also use the ASQ (Age and Stages Questionnaire) score [2] as an outcome –it measures five subscales of development including communication, problem-solving, gross and fine motor development and personal-social development. I’m also going to be using the ASQ score as a measure of child development in my research.

One of the things I look forward to investigate in my project is if we see similar associations in our population, which have a much higher intake of vitamin B₁₂ in their diet and thus should have a much higher status. This could enlighten us (here I mean mankind) further and possibly shed some light on what levels of vitamin B₁₂ are sufficient for optimal brain and intellectual development. This can aid in establishing guidelines and design potential interventions for improving status among children with low vitamin B₁₂ status. Something it looks like the same group is currently doing in an intervention study as well which I’m looking forward to very much[3].

Hopefully, this will be one step in the right direction for getting super brainy children in the future.

References

[1]         Kvestad I, Hysing M, Shrestha M, et al. Vitamin B-12 status in infancy is positively associated with development and cognitive functioning 5 y later in Nepalese children. Am J Clin Nutr 2017;105:1122–31. doi:10.3945/ajcn.116.144931.

[2]         Squires J, Bricker D. Ages & Stages Questionaires. Third Edit. Baltimore: Brooks Publishing; 2009.

[3]         Strand TA, Ulak M, Chandyo RK, et al. The effect of vitamin B12 supplementation in Nepalese infants on growth and development: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials 2017;18:187. doi:10.1186/s13063-017-1937-0.