Irene Martinez-Morata, Haotian Wu, Marta Galvez-Fernandez, Vesna Ilievski, Teodoro Bottiglieri, Megan M Niedzwiecki, Jeff Goldsmith, Dean P Jones, Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou, Brandon Pierce, Douglas I Walker, Mary V Gamble
BACKGROUND: Folic acid (FA) is the oxidized form of folate found in supplements and FA-fortified foods. Most FA is reduced by dihydrofolate reductase to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5mTHF); the latter is the form of folate naturally found in foods. Ingestion of FA increases the plasma levels of both 5mTHF and unmetabolized FA (UMFA). Limited information is available on the downstream metabolic effects of FA supplementation, including potential effects associated with UMFA. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the metabolic effects of FA-supplementation, and the associations of plasma 5mTHF and UMFA with the metabolome in FA-naïve Bangladeshi adults...
December 12, 2023: Journal of Nutrition