PMID: 16623996Apr 21, 2006Paper

Vitamin B12 nutritional status in preschool children in Chongqing

Zhonghua er ke za zhi. Chinese journal of pediatrics
Mei-zhe Gao, Hai-qi Li

Abstract

To explore the levels of serum vitamin B(12) (VB(12)) in preschool children, determine the relationship between the levels of serum VB(12) and anemia, and analyze the effects of several factors related to the level of serum VB(12). From March 2005 to July 2005, the weight, height and complete blood count (CBC) were studied in 351 children aged 2 to 7 years from 4 kindergartens of Chongqing. The concentrations of serum VB(12) and the dietary survey of 177 of the children were evaluated. The average level of serum VB(12) for the preschool children was 552 pg/ml. The levels of serum VB(12) in 4.5% (8/177) of the children were below 200 pg/ml (defined as VB(12) deficiency), in 10.7% (19/177) of the children were 200 - 300 pg/ml (called marginal deficiency). There were no significant differences in the levels of serum VB(12) between boys and girls. And there was no correlation between the levels of serum VB(12) and hemoglobin. The results of multivariate stepwise regression analysis showed that the concentrations of serum VB(12) were mainly influenced by the contents of VB(12) in the foods (P = 0.03). Eight of the children with normal growth and development were diagnosed as VB(12) deficiency, only one of them was diagnosed microcyt...Continue Reading

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