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Nutritional Epidemiology

Dietary Monoglutamate and Polyglutamate Folate Are Associated with Plasma Folate Concentrations in Dutch Men and Women Aged 20–65 Years¹

Alida Melse-Boonstra^*,, Angelika de Bree^**, Petra Verhoef^*,2, Anne L. Bjørke-Monsen and W.M. Monique Verschuren^**

^* Division of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, 6700 EV Wageningen, the Netherlands; Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences, 6700 AN Wageningen, the Netherlands; ^** Department of Chronic Diseases Epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, 3720 BA Bilthoven, the Netherlands; and Department of Pharmacology, University of Bergen, Bergen, N-5021, Norway

²To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: petra.verhoef{at}staff.nutepi.wau.nl.

Dietary folate consists of monoglutamate and polyglutamate folate species. In the small intestine, folate polyglutamate is deconjugated to the monoglutamate form before absorption takes place. This enzymatic deconjugation might limit the bioavailability of polyglutamate folate. Until now, no data have been available on dietary intake of both folate forms and their associations with folate status. Therefore, we estimated the intake of monoglutamate and polyglutamate folate in the Dutch population and studied whether the association with plasma folate is different for these two folate forms. Dietary intake of monoglutamate and polyglutamate folate from nonfortified foods was estimated for 2435 subjects (1275 men; 1160 women) aged 20–65 y. The intake of monoglutamate folate was about one third of total folate intake, derived mainly from bread (20%) and meat (18%), whereas two thirds consisted of polyglutamates, derived mainly from vegetables (25%). The predictive power of the regression model with total folate intake as the independent variable adjusted for age, smoking and alcohol intake, did not increase when including the ratio of monoglutamate to polyglutamate folate intake. In addition, linear regression models showed that both monoglutamate and polyglutamate folate intake were associated positively with plasma folate levels. However, in men, the monoglutamate folate form appeared to be a threefold stronger determinant of plasma folate levels than polyglutamate folate, whereas in women, both folate forms were equally strong determinants. This might be explained by different food intake patterns of men and women, including alcohol intake. At present, it does not seem necessary to distinguish between food folate forms in advising an increase in folate intake from nonfortified foods.

KEY WORDS: • dietary folate intake • bioavailability • polyglutamate folate • monoglutamate folate • plasma folate • humans

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