Koulman Albert, Woolley Timothy, Jones Kerry S
Nutritional Biomarker Laboratory, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Inuvi Diagnostics, Gloucester, UK.
Eur J Nutr. 2025 Sep 6;64(6):272. doi: 10.1007/s00394-025-03796-6.
The UK has a high and increasing prevalence of folate deficiency. The decision to start mandatory folic acid fortification has not yet been implemented. Concern has been raised about the effect of high folate on vitamin B12 status.
The prevalence of folate deficiency was assessed based on the serum folate concentrations from 47,240 samples collected between August 2023 and January 2025 (provided to us as anonymised data, measured in a UK-based contract laboratory using an immunochemical analyser). In 39,374 individuals, both serum folate and holotranscobalamin (holoTC) ('active' vitamin B12) concentrations were available, and were used to determine if high folate status had a negative impact on active vitamin B12 concentrations.
For women of reproductive age (16-50 y), 72.7% had serum folate concentration lower than 24.3 nM/L for protection against neural tube defects. For young adult women (21-25 y) this percentage was 85.5%. The top decile, across all samples (mean serum folate = 43.9 nM/L, range 38.4- > 45 nM/L, n = 3935), had on average also a high holoTC concentration (119.2 pM/L) and no increased risk of vitamin B12 deficiency.
Young women are especially a risk of low folate status. We found no evidence that high folate affects vitamin B12 status.
英国叶酸缺乏的患病率很高且呈上升趋势。开始强制性叶酸强化的决定尚未实施。人们对高叶酸水平对维生素B12状态的影响表示担忧。
根据2023年8月至2025年1月期间收集的47240份样本的血清叶酸浓度评估叶酸缺乏的患病率（作为匿名数据提供给我们，在英国的一家合同实验室使用免疫化学分析仪进行测量）。在39374名个体中，可获得血清叶酸和全转钴胺素（holoTC，“活性”维生素B12）浓度，并用于确定高叶酸状态是否对活性维生素B12浓度有负面影响。
对于育龄妇女（16 - 50岁），72.7%的人血清叶酸浓度低于24.3 nM/L以预防神经管缺陷。对于年轻成年女性（21 - 25岁），这一比例为85.5%。在所有样本的最高十分位数中（平均血清叶酸 = 43.9 nM/L，范围38.4 - >45 nM/L，n = 3935），平均全转钴胺素浓度也很高（119.2 pM/L），且维生素B12缺乏风险没有增加。
年轻女性尤其有叶酸水平低的风险。我们没有发现高叶酸会影响维生素B12状态的证据。
