To better estimate how frequently patients with low serum cobalamin (Cbl) levels in current clinical practice are truly deficient in Cbl and to determine the incidence of atypical or nonclassic presentations of Cbl deficiency, we prospectively studied 300 unselected consecutive patients with serum Cbl concentrations less than 200 pg/mL seen at two medical centers over a 2-year period. Baseline ...

Vitamin B12 deficiency causes a wide range of hematological, gastrointestinal, psychiatric and neurological disorders. Hematological presentation of cobalamin deficiency ranges from the incidental increase of mean corpuscular volume and neutrophil hypersegmentation to symptoms due to severe anemia, such as angor, dyspnea on exertion, fatigue or symptoms related to congestive heart failure, such...

Evidence exists that well-planned vegetarian diets provide numerous health benefits and are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle. It is also known that animal foods provide micronutrients that are nonexistent or available only in limited amounts in plant foods. Restriction or exclusion of all animal foods may therefore result in low intake of certain micronutrients such as vitamin B-12,...

BACKGROUND Cobalamin deficiency and peripheral neuropathy (PN) are commonly seen in HIV-infected adults. The level of urine methylmalonic acid (UMMA), a reliable indicator of tissue cobalamin status, was determined in HIV infected subjects with and without PN to establish this association. METHODS One hundred and ninety-eight (198) consenting HIV infected subjects with and without PN were rec...

In cobaiamin deficiency, inadequate DNA-thymine synthesis appears to resuit from decreased conversion of N5methyltetrahydrofolic acid to tetrahydrofo ic acid (THE). The N5-methyl THE conversion catalyzed by N5methyl THF-homocysteine methyltransferase requires a cobalamin coenzyme, presumed to be methylcobalamin (methyl-B12). In support of the above, in B12-deficient marrow cultures, methyl-B12 ...

Previous studies have shown inconsistent associations of folate intake and polymorphisms of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene with gastric cancer risk. Our nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort is the first prospective study of blood folate levels and gastric cancer. Gastric cancer cases (n=247) and controls (...

Study. Am J Clin Nutr 1996;63:306 18. McCaddon A, Davies G, Hudson P, et al. Total serum homocysteine in senile dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 1998;13:235 19. Blijhan GH. Homocysteine metabolism 2nd international conference. Neth J Med 1998;52(suppl):S1 20. Miller JW, Green R, Allen LH, Mungas DM, Haan MN. Homocysteine correlates with cognitive function in the Sacram...

MMA: methylmalonic acid CASE REPORT We present a case of late-onset cobalamin C deficiency presenting with a unique shellac-like erosive desquamation and mental status changes that was dramatically responsive to treatment. We discuss cobalamin C deficiency and compare the cutaneous findings with other similar nutritional deficiency states. The brown shellac-like desquamation should prompt derma...

also see Table 2 in the online Data Supplement). In HRT users, we found no significant differences in serum cobalamin or in plasma holoTC, MMA, and tHcy compared with controls. To our knowledge, there are currently no published data on the effects of HRT on plasma holoTC, and studies on serum cobalamin have not established a clear pattern (4, 5). We observed that HRT use decreased the risk of h...