Lack Of Vitamin B12 During Pregnancy Is Linked To Type 2 Diabetes For The Baby, U.K. Researchers Say

Pregnant mommies who takes in the lower amount of B12 has high risks for diabetes according to researchers. The University of Warwick Medical School in the United Kingdom has presented their preliminary findings at this week's Society for Endocrinology yearly conference in the U.K. involving this matter.

Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in animal products like milk, eggs, cheese, meat, poultry, and fish. This vitamin can also be found in the dietary supplement and some non-animal products like cereals. If pregnant women are not so much into these kinds of foods, their babies will have high possibility to have diabetes.

Many bodily functions that take benefits from having a good supply of vitamin B12. These include red blood cell formation, neurological functioning, and DNA synthesis, according to the National Institute of Health.

Deficiency in vitamin B12 can cause alteration of the baby's sleptin levels. U.K. researchers tried to determine whether these previous observations can be linked with leptin, which is a hormone produced by fat cells and also known as "satiety hormone." Leptin is the one that communicates to the brain a signal to stop eating. When Leptin goes higher, the higher the risk to overeat, gain weight, and lower insulin resistance.

A total of 91 blood samples from mothers and their offspring were used in the study to determine vitamin B12 levels. Another set of 42 maternal and neonate fat tissue samples were also used along with 83 placental tissue samples. The result turned out to be saying that: children born to mothers with vitamin B12 deficiency have less than 150 picomoles per liter were more likely to have high leptin levels. These means that those kids have a increased risk of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

The researchers hope to prove their suspicion further, as reported by Medical News Today. These means that the results are not totally concrete yet. The team suggested that their current recommendations for vitamin B12 during pregnancy may still need to be reviewed.