CHAPTER 31: B Vitamins and Folate in Multiple Micronutrient Intervention: Function and Effects

This chapter provides a brief description of the functions of B vitamins followed by an overview of their effect in multiple micronutrient intervention on nutrition status and health in different population groups. In children, providing multiple micronutrients as supplements or as fortified food resulted in a small but significant improvement in growth, motor development and some domains of cognitive performance, but the effect on morbidity outcomes was equivocal. Compared with iron and folic acid supplements, multiple micronutrient supplements marginally improved haemoglobin response in children and adolescent girls, but did not show any significant benefit on maternal anaemia during pregnancy. Multiple micronutrient supplements also significantly improved B vitamin status. Multiple micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy resulted in a reduction of the risk of low birth weight but had no effect on rates of stillbirth, or early or late neonatal deaths. The importance of B vitamin supplementation on cognition among elderly people is not yet convincing. Although supplementing B vitamins reduces homocysteine level, it confers no benefit in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. In conclusion, overall there is some evidence of beneficial effect of multiple micronutrient supplements on various health outcomes.