title: Prevalence of folate and vitamin B12 deficiency in Mexican children aged 1 to 6 years in a population-based survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the magnitude and distribution of folate and vitamin B12 deficiency in Mexican children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Folate and vitamin B12 serum concentrations were measured in a probabilistic sample of 2 099 children. Adjusted prevalence, mean concentrations and relevant associations were calculated based on series of logistic and linear regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall prevalence of folate and vitamin B12 deficiency were 3.2% and 7.7%, respectively. The highest prevalence of folate was found in the 2-year-old (7.9%), and of vitamin B12 in the 1 year-old (9.1%) groups. Being a beneficiary of the fortified milk program Liconsa was protectively associated with serum folate (p=0.001) and daily Intake of milk with vitamin B12 (p=0.002) concentrations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We describe the magnitude of folate and vitamin B12 deficiencies in Mexican children. The deficiency of both vitamins in children under 2 years old is a moderate public health problem in Mexico.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Morelos, México.
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cuevas-Nasu
authors.forename: Verónica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mundo-Rosas
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shamah-Levy
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Méndez-Gómez Humaran
authors.forename: Marco Antonio
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Avila-Arcos
authors.forename: Ma del Rosario
authors.initials: Mdel R
authors.lastname: Rebollar-Campos
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Villalpando
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005494:Folic Acid Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D015995:Prevalence; D014806:Vitamin B 12 Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology*