Combined research by American and Irish researchers revealed that women suffering from deficiency of vitamin B12 in their blood before and after conception have higher risk of giving birth to baby suffering from neural tube defects, a class of birth defects affecting the brain and spinal cord.

Research team from the U. S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Trinity College Dublin, and the Health Research Board of Ireland analyzed blood collected during the early pregnancy stages of hundreds of women from Ireland. Data analysis revealed that women with the lowest B12 levels had five times higher risk of having a child with a neural tube defect as compared to the women with the highest B12 levels. Researchers found that women who are vegetarians have higher risk as B12 is far more common in meat and animal-based foods.

Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said: "Vitamin B12 is essential for the functioning of the nervous system and for the production of red blood cells."

"The results of this study suggest that women with low levels of B12 not only may risk health problems of their own, but also may increase the chance that their children may be born with a serious birth defect."