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Folate and Vitamin B 12 Status in a Healthy Elderly Population
Author(s) -
Garry Philip J.,
Goodwin James S.,
Hunt William C.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1984.tb04170.x
Subject(s) - medicine , dietary reference intake , cobalamin , folic acid , vitamin , reference daily intake , vitamin b12 , population , b vitamins , physiology , endocrinology , nutrient , environmental health , biology , ecology
Folic acid and vitamin B 12 nutritional status was examined in a group of 270 healthy elderly individuals using both dietary and biochemical measures. Of these 40 per cent had dietary intakes of folic acid that were less than half the recommended dietary allowance of 400 μg/day, and 13 per cent had intakes of less than half the recommended dietary allowance for vitamin B 12 (3 μg/day). However, only 8 per cent had low plasma folates (<3.0 ng/ml) and only 3 per cent had RBC folates less than 140 ng/ml. Plasma true cobalamin levels less than 220 pg/ml were found in 3 per cent. None of these individuals showed any clinical signs of folate and/or vitamin B 12 deficiency, and mean corpuscular volumes were not significantly greater than those for the entire population (90.8 ± 4.1 fl). The correlations of intakes of folic acid and vitamin B 12 with plasma or erythrocyte levels were moderate (about 0.5). It was also clear that those taking supplements had significantly greater blood levels than those not taking supplements, although the benefit of higher plasma or erythrocyte levels of these nutrients is not clear. The data indicate that folate and vitamin B 12 status in free‐living healthy elderly is not a major medical problem.