BACKGROUND To examine the relationship between reported high serum or red blood cell (RBC) folate status and adverse health outcomes. METHODS We systematically searched PubMed/Medline and EMBASE (to May 2013), with no limits by study type, country or population, to identify studies reporting high folate concentrations in association with adverse health outcomes. Two reviewers screened studies...

Dietary folate supplementation can dramatically reduce the severity and incidence of several common birth defects and adult diseases that are associated with anomalies in homocysteine and folate metabolism. The common polymorphisms that adversely affect these metabolic pathways do not fully account for the particular birth defects and adult diseases that occur in at-risk individuals. To test in...

Folate has been studied in relation to many diseases, especially cancer. Although it has been postulated to exert a dual effect on development of cancer, its role remains to be clearly defined. Its effect on cancer is the result of gene-nutrient interaction between the genes in folate metabolic pathway and dietary folate availability; mutations in genes of folate metabolism have been shown to a...

BACKGROUND Methylation of genomic DNA is dependent on an adequate supply of folate coenzymes. Previous data support the hypothesis that abnormal DNA methylation plays an integral role in carcinogenesis. To date, no studies assessing the effect of inadequate folate status on DNA methylation in older women (aged >63 y) have been reported. OBJECTIVE The effect of moderate folate depletion follow...

BACKGROUND Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally. Folate helps to maintain DNA integrity and to regulate gene expression. Serum folate levels may affect the risk of several cancers, including lung cancer. In this study we evaluated the association between serum folate concentration and variations in genes involved in folate metabolism with lung cancer incidence in ...

The intestinal absorption of folate occurs at the monoglutamyl level, and an important measure of food folate bioavailability is how much folate from the food reaches the intestinal sites in forms that can readily be absorbed. In the absence of protecting agents, e.g., vitamin C and reduced thiols, many labile folates may be lost during cooking and during residence in the acid-peptic milieu of ...

We assessed folate nutritional status from birth to 12 months in fifty-one infants who were fed human milk (HM; n 20), casein-based formula (CBF; n 12) or soya-based formula (SBF; n 19). Folate contents in ninety-five HM samples obtained from twenty mothers for the first 6-month period and twelve CBF and nineteen SBF samples were measured by bioassay after trienzyme extraction. Folate intake wa...

This study assessed folate intakes, folate concentrations in plasma and erythrocytes, plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentration, and urinary excretion of folate metabolites in Korean women with childbearing potential. A total of 23 women voluntarily participated in this study. Precise dietary intakes for 3 consecutive days were determined by weighing all foods consumed and folate intake wa...

SIR,-Your interesting leading article on cardiac failure and folate deficiency (24 January, p. 188) commented on the possible causes of this association, and factors like impaired dietary intake and gastrointestinal malabsorption were mentioned. A contributory cause could well be excessive folate loss in the urine. Urinary folate excretion has been poorly studied, but we recently reported an un...

As with most other vitamins, the assessment of biological stores and intake is based on the concentration in body fluids. Studies of folate status have traditionally used serum/plasma or red blood cell folate. Both assays are widely available in laboratories. Red cell folate, favoured by many clinicians, is the more labour intensive test and therefore more costly than serum folate. Turnaround t...