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Folic acid — vitamin and panacea or genetic time bomb?

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 6, pages 235–240 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

We live in a health-conscious age — many of us supplement our diet with essential micronutrients through the discretionary use of multivitamin pills or judicious selection of foods that have a health benefit beyond that conferred by the nutrient content alone — the so-called 'functional foods'. Indeed, the citizens of some nations have little choice, with a mandatory fortification policy in place for certain vitamins. But do we ever stop to consider the consequences of an increased exposure to micronutrients? We examine this issue in relation to the B-group vitamin folic acid, and ask whether supplementation with this vitamin could introduce a strong genetic selection pressure — one that has the side effect of increasing the prevalence of some of the most significant, human life-threatening diseases. Are we affecting our genetics — is this a case of human evolution in progress by altering our diet?

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Figure 1: The putative cellular mechanism for genetic selection that is based on folate gene variant and dietary folate.
Figure 2: Cellular effect of excess synthetic folate.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support that was provided by the British Heart Foundation. Z.Y. was a British Heart Foundation Ph.D. scholar, and this work was carried out at the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, United Kingdom and the School of Applied Sciences, University of Newcastle, Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Sciences, University of Newcastle, Brush Rd, Ourimbah, NSW 2258, Australia

    Mark Lucock

  2. Academic Unit of Paediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 9NS, UK

    Zoë Yates

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  2. Zoë Yates
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Correspondence to Mark Lucock.

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Related links

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DATABASES

OMIM

Alzheimer disease

Down syndrome

FURTHER INFORMATION

Mark Lucock's web page

Glossary

ADMIXTURE

Gene flow between differentiated populations.

HIGH-PRESSURE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

(HPLC). A rapid variant of column chromatography used for high-resolution separation of molecules of low-to-moderate molecular weight.

KM VALUES

The affinity of enzymes for a substrate.

PRE-ECLAMPSIA

Also known as toxaemia, it is a condition that can occur in a woman in the second half of her pregnancy that causes high blood pressure, protein in the urine, blood changes and other problems such as low birth weight.

SPINA BIFIDA

A condition that occurs at birth in which part of the spinal cord protrudes through a small indentation in the spinal column resulting in partial to total loss of voluntary movement in the lower body.

TERATOGENIC

A factor that causes malformation of an embryo.

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Lucock, M., Yates, Z. Folic acid — vitamin and panacea or genetic time bomb?. Nat Rev Genet 6, 235–240 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1558

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