Folate Deficiency in Humans

Allan V Hoffbrand, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0002268

Folate is a B group vitamin; its deficiency has a wide variety of causes including poor dietary intake, malabsorption and excess utilization. The consequences are anaemia and other widespread tissue abnormalities. Diagnosis is usually by measurement of serum and red cell folate and treatment is with folic acid.

Keywords: folate; folic acid; megaloblastic anaemia; homocysteine

 References
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    Clarke R, Smith AD, Jobst KA et al. (1998) Folate, vitamin B12 and serum total homocysteine levels in confirmed Alzheimer's disease. Archives of Neurology 55: 1449–1455.
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    Green R (1995) Metabolite assays in cobalamin and folate deficiency. Baillière's Clinical Haematology 8: 533–566.
    Hoffbrand AV, Newcombe BFA and Mollin DL (1966) Method of assay of red cell folate activity and the value of the assay as a test for folate deficiency. Journal of Clinical Pathology 19: 17–28.
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    Savage DG, Lindenbaum J, Stabler SP et al. (1994) Sensitivity of serum methylmalonic acid and total homocysteine for diagnosing cobalamin and folate deficiencies. American Journal of Medicine 96: 239–246.
    Selhub J and Miller JW (1992) The pathogenesis of homocysteinemia: interruption of the coordinate regulation by S-adenosyl methionine of the remethylation and trans-sulphuration of homocysteine. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 55: 131–138.
    Shorvon SD, Carney MWP, Chanarin I and Reynolds EH (1980) The neuropsychiatry of megaloblastic anaemia. British Medical Journal 281: 1036–1042.
    Ubbink JB, Vermaak WJH, van der Merive A et al. (1993) Vitamin B12, vitamin B6 and folate nutritional status in men with hyperhomocysteinaemia. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 57: 47–53.
 Further Reading
    Christensen B and Rosenblatt DS (1995) Effects of folate deficiency on embryonic development. Baillière's Clinical Haematology 8: 617–638.
    Daley LE, Kirke PN, Molloy AM, Weir DG and Scott JM (1995) Folate levels and neural tube defects: implications for prevention. Journal of the American Medical Association 274: 1698–1702.
    book Hoffbrand AV (1998) "Megaloblastic anaemia". In: Hoffbrand AV, Lewis SM and Tuddenham EGD (eds) Postgraduate Haematology, 4th edn, pp. 47–67. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.
    Medical Research Council Vitamin Study Research Group (1991) Prevention of neural tube defects: results of the Medical Research Council vitamin study. Lancet 338: 131–137.
    book Rosenblatt DS (1995) "Inherited disorders of folate transport and metabolism". In: Seniver CR, Beaudet AL, Sly WS and Valle D (eds) The Metabolic and Molecular Basis of Inherited Disease, pp. 3111–3128. New York: McGraw Hill.
    Savage DS and Lindenbaum J (1986) Anemia in alcoholics. Medicine 65: 322–338.
    Weir DG and Scott JM (1999) Brain function in the elderly: role of vitamin B12 and folate. British Medical Bulletin 55: 669–682.
    Welch GN and Loscalzo J (1998) Homocysteine and atherothrombosis. New England Journal of Medicine 338: 1042–1050.
    book Wickramasinghe SN (ed.) (1995) "Megaloblastic anaemia". Baillière's Clinical Haematology 8: 441–679.

Related Sub-Topics:

Developmental Disorders | Biomolecular Interactions | Other Biomolecules: Structure, Function, Metabolism
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Article Title: Folate Deficiency in Humans
 
How to Cite close
Hoffbrand, Allan V(Apr 2001) Folate Deficiency in Humans. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0002268]