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Kazakhstan: a folate-deficient area?

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 60, pages 1141–1143 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

In the Republic of Kazakhstan, located in central Asia, the traditional diet consists mainly of meat, and vegetable intake tends to be deficient. This eating lifestyle may contribute to folate deficiency, which is closely linked to abnormal homocysteine (HCY) metabolism.

Subjects and methods:

In order to evaluate current folate status in the healthy Kazakh population, we screened serum folate and plasma HCY in 50 healthy Kazakh adults aged 20–65 years (KZH) and 60 healthy Japanese control subjects aged 27–65 years (JPN).

Results:

Serum levels of folate were significantly lower in KZH than in JPN (3.1 vs 10.0 ng/ml, P<0.01). Fifty of 61 (82.0%) subjects in KZH but none in JPN showed low concentrations of folate (<3.6 ng/ml). Plasma levels of HCY were significantly higher in KZH than in JPN (13.2 vs 7.8 nmol/ml, P<0.01).

Conclusions:

Our findings strongly suggest that owing to the insufficient intake of vegetables, folate deficiency exists in Kazakhstan. Furthermore, hyperhomocysteinemia was observed in this group, probably owing to the secondary effects of folate deficiency.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (No.: 17590546).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Therapy No. 2, Semipalatinsk State Medical Academy, Semipalatinsk, Republic of Kazakhstan

    A Akilzhanova & L Karazhanova

  2. Department of Public Health, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan

    N Takamura, Y Zhaojia & K Aoyagi

  3. Department of Molecular Medicine, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan

    S Yamashita

  4. Department of Protection of the Human Environment, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

    S Yamashita

Authors
  1. A Akilzhanova
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  2. N Takamura
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  3. Y Zhaojia
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  4. K Aoyagi
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  5. L Karazhanova
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  6. S Yamashita
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Correspondence to N Takamura.

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Akilzhanova, A., Takamura, N., Zhaojia, Y. et al. Kazakhstan: a folate-deficient area?. Eur J Clin Nutr 60, 1141–1143 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602428

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602428

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