HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wolfe, J. M Articles by Kauwell, G. P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wolfe, J. M Articles by Kauwell, G. P. Agricola Articles by Wolfe, J. M Articles by Kauwell, G. P.

Folate catabolite excretion is responsive to changes in dietary folate intake in elderly women^1,2,3,4

¹ From the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (JMW, LBB, KH-G, JFG, and GPAK), and the General Clinical Research Center, College of Medicine (DWT), University of Florida, Gainesville.

Background: The major route of folate turnover is by catabolic cleavage of the C9-N10 bond producing p-aminobenzoylglutamate (pABG) and its primary excretory form, p-acetamidobenzoylglutamate (ApABG). We hypothesize that total pABG (ApABG + pABG) excretion parallels both the mass of body folate pools from which these catabolites originate and the folate-status indicators.

Objective: The objective was to determine whether urinary folate catabolite excretion reflects body pool size and parallels the static and functional measures of folate status.

Design: Urinary folate catabolite excretion was measured in women (aged 60–85 y) consuming controlled amounts of folate for 14 wk. A low-folate diet (120 µg/d) was consumed (n = 33) for 7 wk, and then subjects were randomly assigned to consume either 200 (n = 14) or 400 (n = 16) µg folate/d. Urinary pABG and ApABG concentrations were measured by HPLC at 0, 7, and 14 wk.

Results: Urinary excretion of total pABG was significantly lower (P = 0.001) after depletion (73.9 ± 4.7 nmol/d) than at baseline (115 ± 12.7 nmol/d). This rate of decline (0.7% per day) is consistent with the kinetically measured rate of turnover of total body folate at moderate folate intakes. The average percentage increase in total pABG in response to folate repletion with 400 µg/d (75%) was significant (P = 0.02). Folate catabolite excretion was significantly (P = 0.0001) associated with serum and red blood cell folate, plasma homocysteine, and DNA hypomethylation after depletion and with serum folate (P = 0.001) and plasma homocysteine (P = 0.0002) after repletion with 400 µg folate/d.

Conclusions: Total urinary pABG excretion reflects total body folate pool size and is a long-term indicator that parallels functional measures of folate status.

Key Words: Folate status • folate catabolites • elderly women • folate depletion • folate repletion • p-aminobenzoylglutamate • p-acetamidobenzoylglutamate

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. S. Vander Wal, J. M. Marth, P. Khosla, K-L C. Jen, and N. V. Dhurandhar Short-Term Effect of Eggs on Satiety in Overweight and Obese Subjects J. Am. Coll. Nutr., December 1, 2005; 24(6): 510 - 515. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]