The recent viewpoint by Kamien1 and letter by Gunasekera2 rightly highlight the benefits of folate fortification and the unlikely occurrence of masking pernicious anaemia. Food Standards Australia New Zealand recently submitted a proposal supporting the mandatory fortification of bread-making flour to increase folate intakes in women of child-bearing age, with the aim of reducing the risk of ch...

BACKGROUND the question on whether undernutrition remains linked to depressive symptoms, considering the effect of deficiencies of vitamin B12 and folate, is of practical relevance because they are potentially preventable and treatable. This study aims to evaluate whether undernutrition is linked to depressive symptoms, considering the effect of vitamin B12 and folate plasma levels. METHOD a ...

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) has two active forms, adenosylcobalamin and methylcobalamin which have a key role in two important metabolic pathways in humans and their deficiency is responsible for clinical problems. Cobalamin is essential during whole life, but its sufficient amount is extra important in fetal and neonatal period, when it is essential for normal child growth and development as well ...

There is no doubt that folic acid fortification can be effective for reducing the incidence of neural tube defects. The degree of efficacy depends on both the level of folate depletion and other, yet to be fully characterized, genetic and/or environmental factors. This article summarizes briefly data on neural tube defect reduction and other benefits of folic acid fortification as these have be...

Vitamin B12 deficiency is common in elderly and vegetarians, but whether screening should be carried out only for these high risk groups or for the entire population, is controversial. Vitamin B12 assays performed on 422 patients in Biochemistry laboratory of tertiary care hospital over a period of 1 year were reviewed. Individuals were considered to be vitamin B-12 deficient if vitamin B-12 wa...

OBJECTIVE To describe the magnitude and distribution of folate and vitamin B12 deficiency in Mexican children. MATERIALS AND 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 over...

Treatment of B12 deficiency is important to prevent progressive neurological and/or hematologic disease but requires a secure diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate second line tests of B12 status as prognostic indicators of a hematologic response to vitamin B12 therapy. Forty-nine patients referred with low, serum vitamin B12 concentrations were treated with intramuscular B12 and re-...

We report on a child in whom severe nutritional vitamin B12 deficiency was exacerbated by a genetic impairment of the folate cycle, causing reduced CSF concentrations of the methyl group donor 5-methyltetrahydrofolate. Some patients with vitamin B12 deficiency may benefit from high dose folic acid supplementation, even if plasma concentrations are high.

Two alternative methods for detecting vitamin B(12) deficiency in a psychiatric population have been compared: the ;direct' approach by microbiological assay of serum vitamin B(12) levels in all patients, and the ;indirect' approach where all patients are first screened for antigastric parietal cell antibodies and thereafter all positive reactors and other ;high-risk' patients have serum vitami...