mellowsong
02-10-09, 03:20 PM
I'm not sure what they are trying to prove here. I find 2 things very interesting: 1) Plasma folate was higher in children with IBD than in healthy controls 2) Folate in the red blood cells was significantly lower
YET THIS SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE was not alluded to at all in this article. They fail to mention that at least 50% of folate is bound in the bloodstream and the only useful measurement is what is found in the RBCs as that is the folate the body is using.
Folate Deficiency Uncommon in Children With Newly Diagnosed IBD (Is it really? mellowsong)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Feb 06 - Researchers have found that children with newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have higher serum folate concentrations than children without IBD. This "unexpected" finding questions the notion that children with IBD are prone to folate deficiency.
Previous research has shown that adults with IBD tend to have lower folate levels than adults without IBD, the study team notes in the February issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. "However, pediatric IBD appears to be somewhat different from the adult form, and before this study very little was known about folate levels in newly diagnosed children with this disease," senior author Dr. Nina Holland of the University of California, Berkeley, pointed out in a written statement.
The researchers compared folate concentrations between 37 children with newly diagnosed untreated IBD (22 with Crohn's, 11 ulcerative colitis, and 4 with indeterminate colitis) and 41 healthy control children. The children in the study were between 5 and 17 years (mean age 12.8 years).
Dr. Holland and colleagues found that red blood cell folate concentrations were 19.4% lower in healthy control children than in children with IBD (587.0 vs 728.7 ng/mL; p = 0.0004). Whole-blood folate concentrations were 11.1% lower in controls than in IBD patients (218.2 vs 245.3 ng/mL; p = 0.031).
"This is particularly interesting," the researchers note, "because we observed lower hematocrit levels and folate intakes in IBD patients."
"The clinical impact of these findings may be important to the therapeutic management of patients with IBD," they add.
"To date, many clinicians have recommended folate supplementation for all IBD patients," Dr. Holland and colleagues explain. "Because we found normal folate concentrations in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed IBD, further evaluation of current folate supplementation recommendations is necessary."
It will also be important to investigate the effects of IBD treatments on folate concentrations, they say, given that sulfasalazine and other IBD medications can decrease folate levels.
Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:545-550.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/587959?sssdmh=dm1.429576&src=nldne
YET THIS SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE was not alluded to at all in this article. They fail to mention that at least 50% of folate is bound in the bloodstream and the only useful measurement is what is found in the RBCs as that is the folate the body is using.
Folate Deficiency Uncommon in Children With Newly Diagnosed IBD (Is it really? mellowsong)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Feb 06 - Researchers have found that children with newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have higher serum folate concentrations than children without IBD. This "unexpected" finding questions the notion that children with IBD are prone to folate deficiency.
Previous research has shown that adults with IBD tend to have lower folate levels than adults without IBD, the study team notes in the February issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. "However, pediatric IBD appears to be somewhat different from the adult form, and before this study very little was known about folate levels in newly diagnosed children with this disease," senior author Dr. Nina Holland of the University of California, Berkeley, pointed out in a written statement.
The researchers compared folate concentrations between 37 children with newly diagnosed untreated IBD (22 with Crohn's, 11 ulcerative colitis, and 4 with indeterminate colitis) and 41 healthy control children. The children in the study were between 5 and 17 years (mean age 12.8 years).
Dr. Holland and colleagues found that red blood cell folate concentrations were 19.4% lower in healthy control children than in children with IBD (587.0 vs 728.7 ng/mL; p = 0.0004). Whole-blood folate concentrations were 11.1% lower in controls than in IBD patients (218.2 vs 245.3 ng/mL; p = 0.031).
"This is particularly interesting," the researchers note, "because we observed lower hematocrit levels and folate intakes in IBD patients."
"The clinical impact of these findings may be important to the therapeutic management of patients with IBD," they add.
"To date, many clinicians have recommended folate supplementation for all IBD patients," Dr. Holland and colleagues explain. "Because we found normal folate concentrations in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed IBD, further evaluation of current folate supplementation recommendations is necessary."
It will also be important to investigate the effects of IBD treatments on folate concentrations, they say, given that sulfasalazine and other IBD medications can decrease folate levels.
Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:545-550.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/587959?sssdmh=dm1.429576&src=nldne