Folate Catabolism in Pregnant and Nonpregnant Women with Controlled Folate Intakes

Manuscript received 23 June 1997. Initial reviews completed 22 August 1997. Revision accepted 21 October 1997.

Marie A. Caudill^*, Jesse F. Gregory III^*, Alan D. Hutson, and Lynn B. Bailey^*,

^* Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 and  Division of Biostatistics, Department of Statistics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610

Measurement of the urinary folate catabolites, para-aminobenzoylglutamate (pABG) and the more predominant acetylated form, acetamidobenzoylglutamate (apABG), has been used to assess folate requirements in both pregnant and nonpregnant women. Folate catabolite excretion has been reported to be significantly higher in pregnant women (second trimester) compared with nonpregnant controls. The primary goals of this study were to determine if pregnant women in a controlled metabolic study excreted higher quantities of urinary folate catabolites than nonpregnant controls and if catabolite excretion was influenced by folate intake. We evaluated the effect of gestation and folate intake on the urinary excretion of apABG and pABG in pregnant women (n = 12; wk 14-26 gestation) and nonpregnant controls (n = 12) assigned to consume folate levels approximating the current (400 µg/d) and previous (800 µg/d) RDA. Subjects were fed a controlled diet containing 120 µg folate/d and either 330 or 730 µg synthetic folic acid/d. In contrast to previously reported data, no differences in mean folate catabolite excretion were detected between pregnant and nonpregnant subjects. Catabolite excretion (pABG + apABG) decreased significantly relative to initial values in pregnant women consuming 450 µg folate/d (40 ± 20%; mean ± SD) and final mean excretion was significantly lower in the pregnant women consuming 450 µg folate/d (86 ± 32 nmol/d) compared with 850 µg folate/d (148 ± 20 nmol/d). Data from this study indicate that second trimester pregnant women do not excrete more folate catabolites than nonpregnant controls and that consumption of 450 vs. 850 µg folate/d results in a significant reduction in the quantity of folate catabolites excreted.

The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 2 February 1998, pp. 204-208
Copyright ©1998 by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences

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