Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
Volume 172, Issue 8, Pages 932-941Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwq197
Keywords
adult; dietary supplements; folic acid; homocysteine
Categories
Funding
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute [5 UO1 HL 50981, 1K01HL092595-01]
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine General Clinical Research Center, National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health [M01-RR00052]
- Seoul R&BD Program, Seoul, South Korea [10526]
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The authors' objective in this study was to estimate the changes in serum folate and homocysteine concentration that resulted from 6 weeks of supplementation with folic acid. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-response trial with a parallel-group design was conducted. A total of 133 participants aged 60-90 years (70% female, 19% nonwhite) were assigned to receive 0, 100, 400, 1,000, or 2,000 mu g/day of folic acid for 6 weeks. Data were collected in the United States between June and September 1996. At baseline, median serum folate and plasma homocysteine concentrations were 5.7 ng/mL (interquartile range (25th-75th percentiles), 4.1-7.8) and 8.3 mu mol/L (interquartile range, 7.1-10.0), respectively. As the folic acid dose increased, serum folate levels increased (P-trend < 0.001). There was no dose-response relation with homocysteine level among all participants. In analyses restricted to persons with the lowest serum folate concentration (< 4.5 ng/mL) at baseline, there was a trend (P = 0.06) toward decreased homocysteine levels with increasing folic acid dose. In healthy, older adults with adequate folate status, folic acid supplementation is not beneficial for homocysteine reduction. However, for older adults with low serum folate levels, supplementation will improve folate status and may be beneficial for lowering homocysteine concentrations.
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