Aims/hypothesis: Raised maternal plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations predict small size at birth, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus. We studied the association between maternal vitamin B 12 , folate and tHcy status during pregnancy, and offspring adiposity and insulin resistance at 6 years. Methods: In the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study we studied 700 consecutive eligible pregnant women in six villages.
We measured maternal nutritional intake and circulating concentrations of folate, vitamin B 12 , tHcy and methylmalonic acid (MMA) at 18 and 28 weeks of gestation. These were correlated with offspring anthropometry, body composition (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan) and insulin resistance (hom eostatic model assessment of insulin resistance [HOMA-R] ) at 6 years. Results: Two-thirds of mothers had low vitamin B 12 (<150 pmol/l), 90% had high MMA (>0.26…
