Folate, related B vitamins, and homocysteine in childhood and adolescence: potential implications for disease risk in later life.
OBJECTIVES. Folate and the metabolically related B vitamins are an important priority throughout life, but few studies have examined their status through childhood and adolescence. The aims of the current study were to investigate age, gender, and lifestyle factors as determinants of folate, related B-vitamin status, and homocysteine concentrations among British children and adolescents and to propose age-specific reference ranges for these biomarkers, which, at present, are unavailable. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS. Data from the National Dietary and Nutritional Survey of 2127 young people aged 4 to 18 years were accessed to provide a representative sample of British children. All of the subje…
Biochemical risk indices, including plasma homocysteine, that prospectively predict mortality in older British people: the National Diet and Nutrition Survey of People Aged 65 Years and Over.
Predictive power, for total and vascular mortality, of selected indices measured at baseline in the British National Diet and Nutrition Survey (community-living subset) of People Aged 65 Years and Over was tested. Mortality status and its primary and underlying causes were recorded for 1100 (mean age 76·7 (sd7·5) years, 50·2 % females) respondents from the baseline survey in 1994–5 until September 2008. Follow-up data analyses focussed especially on known predictors of vascular disease risk, together with intakes and status indices of selected nutrients known to affect, or to be affected by, these predictors. Total mortality was significantly predicted by hazard ratios of baseline plasma co…