Effect of Diet and
677 C®T 5,
10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase Genotypes
on Plasma Homocyst(e)ine Concentrations in Slovak
Adolescent Population
K. RAŠLOVÁ,
A. BEDEROVÁ1, J. GAŠPAROVIČ,
P. BLAŽÍČEK2, B. SMOLKOVÁ
Department
of Lipid and Glucose Metabolism, Institute of
Preventive and Clinical Medicine, 1Research
Institute of Nutrition and 2Hospital
of Ministry of Defense, Bratislava, Slovak
Republic
Received
January 13, 2000
Accepted March 17, 2000
Summary
The
objective of this study was to evaluate the
effect of diet and 677 C®T mutation of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene
on plasma homocyst(e)ine concentrations in an
adolescent population (113 males, age: 14.2±2.4
years; 202 females, age: 14.9±2.1 years) from a
region characterized by high cardiovascular
mortality. Homocyst(e)ine levels did not differ
between males and females (9.4±3.5 and 8.9±3.1 mmol/l, respectively). The homozygosity for the
677 C®T MTHFR mutation
was found in 4.6 % of subjects. No differences in homocyst(e)ine levels were found between MTHFR
genotypes. Analysis of the diet composition which
was performed on a 24-hour daily recall basis and
a food frequency questionnaire showed a low daily
intake of vitamin B6 (males: 1.13 mg/66 % RDA;
females: 0.92 mg/61 % RDA). Daily folic acid
intake was 0.21 g/105 % RDA in males and 0.23
g/115 % RDA in females. The results of our study
show that the high homocyst(e)ine levels in the
adolescent population were not affected by the
677 C®T MTHFR mutation.
We conclude that an insufficient dietary intake
of vitamin B6 and folic acid is responsible for
this finding. This is in accord with the
recommendation that the dietary allowances for folate should be reset to the originally
prescribed levels of 0.4 g/day which should be
sufficient to control the homocysteine levels.
Key words
Homocysteine
· 677 C®T
methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase genotypes ·
Diet · Vitamin B6 · Folic acid
Reprint
requests
K.
Rašlová, Department of Lipid and Glucose
Metabolism, Institute of Preventive and Clinical
Medicine, Limbová 14, 833 01 Bratislava, Slovak
Republic. Tel/Fax: +421 7 59369161, e-mail: raslova@upkm.sk
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