Most lactating Kenyan women consumed less than the estimated average requirement of vitamin B-12 and had low breast milk vitamin B-12 concentrations. We recommend interventions that improve vitamin B-12 intake in lactating Kenyan women to foster maternal health and child development. The main trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01704105.

Background To accurately assess micronutrient status, it is necessary to characterize the effects of inflammation and the acute-phase response on nutrient biomarkers. Objective Within a norovirus human challenge study, we aimed to model the inflammatory response of C-reactive protein (CRP) and α-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) by infection status, model kinetics of micronutrient biomarkers by inflammation status, and evaluate associations between inflammation and micronutrient biomarkers from 0 to 35 d post–norovirus exposure. Methods Fifty-two healthy adults were enrolled into challenge studies in a hospital setting and followed longitudinally; all were exposed to norovirus, half were infected. Post hoc analysis of inflammatory and nutritional biomarkers was performed. Subjects were stratified by inflammation resulting from norovirus exposure. Smoothed regression models analyzed the kinetics of CRP and AGP by infection status, and nutritional biomarkers by inflammation. Linear mixed-effects models were used to analyze the independent relations between CRP, AGP, and biomarkers for iron, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B-12, and folate from 0 to 35 d post–norovirus exposure. Results Norovirus-infected subjects had median (IQR) peak concentrations for CRP [16.0 (7.9–29.5) mg/L] and AGP [0.9 (0.8–1.2) g/L] on day 3 and day 4 postexposure, respectively. Nutritional biomarkers that differed (P < 0.05) from baseline within the inflamed group were ferritin (elevated day 3), hepcidin (elevated days 2, 3), serum iron (depressed days 2–4), transferrin saturation (depressed days 2–4), and retinol (depressed days 3, 4, and 7). Nutritional biomarker concentrations did not differ over time within the uninflamed group. In mixed models, CRP was associated with ferritin (positive) and serum iron and retinol (negative, P < 0.05). Conclusion Using an experimental infectious challenge model in healthy adults, norovirus infection elicited a time-limited inflammatory response associated with altered serum concentrations of certain iron and vitamin A biomarkers, confirming the need to consider adjustments of these biomarkers to account for inflammation when assessing nutritional status. These trials were registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00313404 and NCT00674336.

It is unknown whether a novel small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement (SQ-LNS) containing alpha-linolenic (ALA) and linoleic acids impacts maternal plasma lipids and fatty acid status. We measured plasma fatty acids (wt%) and lipid concentrations at 36 wk gestation and breast milk fatty acids (wt%) at 6 months postpartum in a subsample of women enrolled in a randomized controlled trial studying the effects of SQ-LNS on birth outcomes and child growth. Women≤20 wk gestation in Ghana (n=1,320) and Malawi (n=1,391) were assigned to receive daily either: 1) iron-folic acid (pregnancy); 2) multiple micronutrients (pregnancy and lactation); or 3) SQ-LNS (pregnancy and lactation). At 36 wk, plasma ALA levels were higher in those receiving SQ-LNS. SQ-LNS increased breast milk ALA in Ghana but not Malawi. There was no effect on plasma lipids or other selected fatty acids. SQ-LNS may impact plasma and breast milk ALA levels depending on the population.