Background:: Folate and vitamin B12 are essential micronutrients, the deficiency of which can be associated with public health problems worldwide.
Aim:: The aims of this study were to assess the folate and vitamin B12 status of healthy adults and the effect of gender differences on their deficiency using serum folate, vitamin B12 and red blood cell (RBC) folate as biomarkers and their relation to hematological indices.
Methods:: This study was a part of the Azar cohort study, which is designed as a noncommunicable disease survey in the population of Shabestar, East Azerbaijan, Iran. A total of 95 healthy adults (35 men, 60 women) were chosen according to exclusion criteria and assessed using demographic characteristics and blood sampling.
Results:: Low concentrations of serum folate, vitamin B12 and RBC folate were detected in 16.8%, 61.1% and 40% of all subjects, respectively. Prevalence of low serum folate and vitamin B12 was higher in men than women (25.7% versus 11.7% for serum folate, 77.1% versus 51.7% for serum vitamin B12).A significant positive correlation was found between hemoglobin and serum folate, vitamin B12 and RBC folate concentrations ( r = 0.279, 0.335, 0.228, respectively). No statistically significant correlation between mean corpuscular volume and serum folate, vitamin B12 and RBC folate was seen ( r = -0.049, -0.030, -0.016, respectively).
Conclusions:: There was a high prevalence of low folate and vitamin B12 concentrations in our community. Regarding the impact of these two vitamins deficiency on overall health, we suggest further investigations with more participants. In addition, monitoring hematological indices could be useful in people with folate and vitamin B12 deficiency.
Keywords: Serum folate; deficiency; healthy adults; hematological indices; red blood cell folate; serum vitamin B.