{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T18:39:26Z","timestamp":1792175966906,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,3]],"date-time":"2023-07-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1688342400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Mittal Foundation"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Deficiencies of vitamin B12 (B12) and folate (FA) are of particular interest due to their pleiotropic role in 1-carbon metabolism. In addition to adverse birth outcomes, deficiencies of B12 and FA, or an imbalance in FA\/B12 status, are linked to metabolic disorders. Indian diets that are predominantly plant food-based could be deficient in these vitamins, but there are no national estimates of the prevalence of B12 and FA deficiency in Indian children and adolescents, nor their associations with age, sex and growth indicators. The recent Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS-2016-18) provided estimates of the prevalence of B12 and FA deficiency at the national and state levels among preschool (1\u20134 years: 9976 and 11,004 children, respectively), school-age children (5\u20139 years: 12,156 and 14,125) and adolescents (10\u201319 years: 11,748 and 13,621). Serum B12 and erythrocyte FA were measured by the direct chemiluminescence method and their deficiency was defined using WHO cut-offs. The prevalence of B12 and FA deficiency was high among adolescents (31.0%, CI: 28.7\u201333.5 and 35.6%, CI: 33.1\u20138.2) compared to school-age (17.3%, CI: 15.4\u201319.3 and 27.6%, CI: 25.5\u201329.9) and preschool children (13.8%, CI: 11.7\u201316.2 and 22.8%, CI: 20.5\u201325.2, respectively). The prevalence of both B12 and FA deficiency was significantly higher by 8% and 5%, respectively, in adolescent boys compared to girls. There was no association between anthropometric undernutrition and B12 and FA deficiency. There was wide regional variation in the prevalence of B12 and FA deficiency, but no rural\u2013urban differences were observed across all age groups. The national prevalence of B12 deficiency among preschool or school-age children was &lt;20% (the cut-off that indicates a public health problem). However, FA deficiency in these age groups and both FA and B12 deficiencies in adolescents were &gt;20%, warranting further investigation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu15133026","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,4]],"date-time":"2023-07-04T01:38:32Z","timestamp":1688434712000},"page":"3026","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":39,"title":["Prevalence of Vitamin B12 and Folate Deficiencies in Indian Children and Adolescents"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Tattari","family":"Shalini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Nutrition, Jamai-Osmania, Tarnaka, Hyderabad 500007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Raghu","family":"Pullakhandam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Nutrition, Jamai-Osmania, Tarnaka, Hyderabad 500007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9373-9570","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Santu","family":"Ghosh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"St. John\u2019s Medical College, Bangalore 560034, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0636-318X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bharati","family":"Kulkarni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Nutrition, Jamai-Osmania, Tarnaka, Hyderabad 500007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hemalatha","family":"Rajkumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Nutrition, Jamai-Osmania, Tarnaka, Hyderabad 500007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4956-9391","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Harshpal S.","family":"Sachdev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi 110016, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anura V.","family":"Kurpad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"St. John\u2019s Medical College, Bangalore 560034, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4787-3944","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Geereddy Bhanuprakash","family":"Reddy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Nutrition, Jamai-Osmania, Tarnaka, Hyderabad 500007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lyon, P., Strippoli, V., Fang, B., and Cimmino, L. 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