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Circulating folic acid in plasma: relation to folic acid fortification^1,2,3

¹ From the Vitamin Metabolism and Aging Laboratory, Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA (RDK, SFC, PFJ, AMT, and JS), and the Framingham Heart Study, Boston University School of Medicine, Framingham, MA (RD)

Background: The implementation of folic acid fortification in the United States has resulted in unprecedented amounts of this synthetic form of folate in the American diet. Folic acid in circulation may be a useful measure of physiologic exposure to synthetic folic acid, and there is a potential for elevated concentrations after fortification and the possibility of adverse effects.

Objective: We assessed the effect of folic acid fortification on circulating concentrations of folic acid and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate in the Framingham Offspring Cohort.

Design: This is a cross-sectional study that used plasma samples from fasting subjects before and after fortification. Samples were measured for folate distribution with the use of an affinity-HPLC method with electrochemical detection.

Results: Among nonsupplement users, the median concentration of folic acid in plasma increased from 0.25 to 0.50 nmol/L (P < 0.001) after fortification, and among supplement users the median increased from 0.54 to 0.68 nmol/L (P = 0.001). Among nonsupplement users, the prevalence of high circulating folic acid (85th percentile) increased from 9.4% to 19.1% (P = 0.002) after fortification. Among supplement users, the prevalence of high circulating folic acid increased from 15.9% to 24.3% (P = 0.02). Folic acid intake and total plasma folate were positively and significantly related to high circulating folic acid after adjustment for potential confounding factors (P for trend < 0.001).

Conclusions: Folic acid fortification has resulted in increased exposure to circulating folic acid. The biochemical and physiologic consequences of this are unknown, but these findings highlight the need to understand the effects of chronic exposure to circulating folic acid.

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