Adequate B Vitamins Vital Before Conception

The importance of B vitamins during pregnancy is well established, particularly regarding their role in preventing neural tube defects (NTDs). Supplementation with folic acid, the bioavailable form of folate, is recommended to all women of child-bearing age. NTDs, including spina bifida and anencephaly, occur during the first 22 to 28 days of pregnancy, commonly before the mother discovers she is pregnant. Once an NTD occurs it can not be reversed, even with supplementation of B vitamins.

A new animal study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science has found that mothers with levels of vitamin B12, folate and the amino acid methionine in the low end of the normal range before conceiving tend to have fatter offspring, that were insulin-resistant, at greater risk of high blood pressure, and had altered immune responses. The impact was most evident in male offspring.¹ The study was conducted on sheep because the pre- and post-natal development of sheep is nearly the same as in humans.

In this first-of-its-kind study, 50 sheep where divided into two groups; the control group was fed a normal diet for the duration of the study. The experimental group was fed a diet deficient in B vitamins for eight weeks prior to conception and for six days after artificial insemination occurred. The six-day-old embryos where then removed from their vitamin B-deficient mothers and transplanted into non-vitamin B-deficient females. At birth there was no evident differences between the offspring of the B-deficient mothers and the offspring of the sheep fed the normal diet. However, at adulthood the differences were obvious, particularly in the males. The researchers believe that the low levels of the vitamins altered the DNA in the oocyte (early stages of the ovum). Indeed, the researchers found irregularities in the DNA of adult offspring of the vitamin-deficient group. Specifically, DNA methylation was affected, altering gene expression and the use of B vitamins.

Earlier this year an epidemiological study found that high levels of vitamin B₆ prior to conception may significantly increase rates of conception, and significantly reduce the risk of miscarriage early in the pregnancy.²

Our new prenatal multivitamin, PrenatalHealth™, was designed to meet the Dietary Reference Intakes recommended for pregnancy by the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board.  It contains a full-spectrum of B vitamins. Learn more about PrenatalHealth™ and the many potential benefits it may offer to women of child-bearing age.

1. Sinclair, K. D., C. Allegrucci, et al. (2007). "DNA methylation, insulin resistance, and blood pressure in offspring determined by maternal periconceptional B vitamin and methionine status." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104(49): 19351-6.

2. Ronnenberg, A. G., S. A. Venners, et al. (2007). "Preconception B-vitamin and homocysteine status, conception, and early pregnancy loss." Am J Epidemiol 166(3): 304-12.