Nutritional Sciences

The Korean Nutrition Society (한국영양학회)
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MTHFR Polymorphism and Folate Status of Korean Women of Childbearing Age

  • Choi, Jeong-Hwa (Department of Food and Nutrition and Human Ecology Research Institute, Chonnam National University) ;
  • Kim, Hee-Ah (Department of Food and Nutrition and Human Ecology Research Institute, Chonnam National University) ;
  • Lim, Hyeon-Sook (Department of Food and Nutrition and Human Ecology Research Institute, Chonnam National University)
  • Published : 2006.02.01
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Abstract

It should be concerned to the women with mutated genotype of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), C677T or A1298C, since they need more folate than those with wild genotypes. In this study, we evaluated the folate status of Korean women of childbearing age according to their MTHFR polymorpiysm. Dietary folate intakes, plasma and erythrocyte folate concentrations, plasma homocysteine concentrations, and urinary excretions of para-aminobenzoylglutamate (pABG) and para-acetoamidobenzoylglutamate (ApABG) of twenty-five subjects aged between 19 and 35 years old were determined Folate intakes seemed to be inadequate, being only three-quarters of the Korean RDA of folate. More than one-quarter of the subjects was exposed to folate deficiency risk as determined by erythrocyte folate concentration and almost one-quarter of the subjects showed hyperhomocysteinemia, although they had normal plasma folate concentrations. Urinary excretions of pABG and ApABG seemed to be low and ApABG constituted more than $85\%$ of total folate catabolites. There were no significant differences in dietary folate intakes, plasma concentrations of folate and homocysteine, and urinary excretions of pABG and ApABG among the geneotypes of both C677T and A1298C. However, the subjects with 1298AC genotype had significantly lower erythrocyte folate concentration than those with 1298AA. Erythrocyte folate concentration showed an inverse relationship with plasma homocysteine concentration and positive relationships with urinary excretions of pABG and ApABG. The results of this study imply that mutations of 677C$\rightarrow$T and 1298A$\rightarrow$C in the study were not associated with decreased plasma folate and raised plasma homocysteine concentrations. A1298C polymorphism night be, however, more influential on erythrocyte folate concentration than C677T polymorphism, and urinary excretions of folate catabolites, pABG and ApABG, might be reliable indexes of folate nutritional status like plasma homocysteine concentrations.

Keywords

References

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