REPORTS of several investigators have indicated that vitamin B12 has growthpromoting properties.1 The possibility that this compound might be of especial benefit to premature infants, as an accelerator of growth and hematopoiesis, has been put to test by a number of clinics, with entirely negative results.2
The present study is concerned with 117 infants admitted to the premature nursery of Baltimore City Hospitals in 1950. Studies were made of the weight gain, the hemoglobin levels, and the red blood cell counts of two groups of premature infants; one group comprised infants who received a daily oral supplement of 30 μ of a solution of crystalline vitamin B12, and the other was a control group.
METHODS
Upon admission to the premature nursery infants were assigned alternately to the vitamin B12 group and to the control group. All infants received similar care during the first week of life.