Sheng X, et al. - Researchers examined the vitamin B₁₂ status of toddlers living in high-poverty areas of China. In addition, they determined how the vitamin B₁₂ status and cognitive level of these toddlers are affected by different complementary foods. In a cluster-randomized controlled trial implemented in 60 administrative villages (clusters) of Xichou County, this study was nested was . In this trial, randomization of infants aged 6 months old to receive 50 g/d of pork (meat group), an equi-caloric fortified cereal supplement (fortified cereal group) or local cereal supplement (local cereal group) for one year, was done. The children exhibited median serum concentrations of vitamin B₁₂ and total homocysteine (tHcy) of 360.0 pg/mL and 8.2 μmol/L, respectively. The fortified cereal group showed the highest vitamin B₁₂ level (509.5 pg/mL), followed by the meat group (338.0 pg/mL) and the local cereal group (241.0 pg/mL). Due to low dietary vitamin B₁₂ intake, vitamin B₁₂ deficiency in toddlers was common in poor rural areas of China. They observed a positive correlation of vitamin B₁₂ concentration with the cognitive score and the fine motor score of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 3rd Edition screening test. Higher cognitive scores were observed among children in the meat group vs the local cereal group.