Abstract
We describe two asymptomatic newborns with nutritional vitamin B12 deficiency in whom increased urinary methylmalonic acid was detected by routine neonatal screening at 3 weeks of age. Both infants were exclusively breast-fed. One mother suffered from pernicious anaemia, and the other was a strict vegetarian. Both mothers had no clinical or haematological abnormality, aside from a borderline mean corpuscular volume for the vegetarian mother. This report illustrates the early appearance of functional vitamin B12 deficiency in breastfed infants of vitamin B12-depleted mothers. It also demonstrates that urinary methylmalonic acid measurement is a sensitive indicator of tissue vitamin B12 deficiency.
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Abbreviations
- MMA:
-
Methylmalonic acid
- TLC:
-
thin-layer chromatography
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Michaud, J.L., Lemieux, B., Ogier, H. et al. Nutritional vitamin B12 deficiency: Two cases detected by routine newborn urinary screening. Eur J Pediatr 151, 218–220 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01954389
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01954389