Prevalence and Indicators of Vitamin B12 Insufficiency among Young Women of Childbearing Age

Abstract

Vitamin B12 insufficiency is a global health issue among women of childbearing age, yet few studies have investigated its prevalence and risk factors among healthy Middle Eastern populations. This cross-sectional study included 346 Saudi women aged 19–30 years and enrolled at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A series of questionnaires were administered to record the study participants’ sociodemographic status, medical history, dietary intake, and physical activity. Participants’ anthropometric data were also recorded and their fasting blood samples were analyzed. The rate of vitamin B12 insufficiency (≤220 pmol/L) was approximately 6% among the study participants. After adjusting for confounding factors, it was observed that the risk factors for vitamin B12 insufficiency included daily sitting time ≥ 7 h, low income (<10,000 Saudi riyal) and increasing age. The recommended dietary allowance of vitamin B12 (>2.4 mcg/day) has been shown to confer reasonable protection against vitamin B12 insufficiency. These study findings highlight that a combination of increased physical activity and dietary vitamin B12 intake above the current recommended dietary allowance may help improve the serum vitamin B12 levels of young women of childbearing age, especially those with a low socioeconomic status. Timely detection and protection against vitamin B12 insufficiency in this subpopulation are important to prevent maternal and fetal health risks.

Vitamin B12 Status and Gut Microbiota among Saudi Females with Obesity

“…While considerable attention has been given to the macronutrient–gut microbiota relationship [ 9 ], studies have rarely focused on the role of vitamins (e.g., vitamin B12) [ 10 , 11 ]. Vitamin B12 insufficiency (<200 pmol/L) is a common condition worldwide [ 12 ], reaching an incidence of 10.6% in the United States [ 13 ] and 6% in Saudi females of reproductive age (≤220 pmol/L) [ 14 ]. Vitamin B12 insufficiency has been linked to a variety of health problems, ranging from minor tiredness and megaloblastic anemia to severe neurological damage [ 12 ], as well as the development of metabolic diseases, particularly obesity [ 15 ].…”

Maternal Vitamin B12 Status during Pregnancy and Early Infant Neurodevelopment: The ECLIPSES Study

“…We also observed that a higher maternal dietary intake of vitamin B12 improved certain infant neurocognitive abilities, regardless of vitamin B12 levels. This may be because serum vitamin B12 levels are a late marker of intake and therefore do not reflect the current intake [ 66 , 67 ], as was reported in a systematic review with dose–response meta-analyses of vitamin B12 intake and biomarkers [ 68 ] and in a previous study by our research group [ 12 ].…”

“…Another limitation was the lack of additional vitamin B12 biomarkers, such as homocysteine, to improve the evaluation of vitamin status. Since the determination of serum vitamin B12 reflects late deficiency, its combination with another marker such as methylmalonic acid or holotranscobalamin, which are early markers of deficiency, could help to broaden the evaluation of vitamin status [ 66 , 67 ]. Moreover, we did not assess genetic variants related to vitamin B12 metabolism.…”

Prenatal vitamin B12 status and cognitive functioning in children at 4 years of age: The ECLIPSES Study

“…This study has various strengths based on several aspects. First, the original design of the study was a triple-blind, population-based RCT (Arija et al, 2014), providing a high level of scientific rigour and on the participants' vitamin B12 levels (Al-Musharaf, et al, 2020;Obeid et al, 2019). Serum vitamin B12 levels were also not measured in the pre-school-aged children at the time of the psychological evaluation.…”