High serum folate ups lung function in older adults

Older men with high levels of serum folate seem to be more likely to have better pulmonary function, reports a recent Korea study.

Researchers enrolled 1,166 adults (mean age 68.2 years, 637 women) who had participated in the Korean National Health and Examination Survey from 2016 to 2018. Serum levels of folate, vitamin A, and vitamin E were measured.

Pulmonary function was described according to the following: forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced expiratory volume in 6 seconds (FEV6), FEV1/FVC ratio, forced expiratory flow at 25 percent and 75 percent of the pulmonary volume (FEF25–75), and peak expiratory velocity (PEV).

Regression analysis revealed that serum vitamin E was significantly and inversely correlated with FVC (B, –0.012, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], –0.022 to –0.003; p=0.012) and FEV1 (B, –0.010, 95 percent CI, –0.115 to –0.007; p=0.028) in older men.

Meanwhile, serum folate was significant and positive indicator FEV1 (B, 0.017, 95 percent CI, 0.004–0.03; p=0.009), FEV1/FVC (B, 0.003, 95 percent CI, 0.001–0.005; p=0.007), and FEF25–75 (B, 0.031, 95 percent CI, 0.01–0.053; p=0.005) in older men.

Serum vitamin levels did not correlate with pulmonary function in older women. Similarly, serum levels of vitamin A were unrelated to pulmonary indices.

“It can be deduced that serum folate plays an important role in pulmonary function in older men in Korea,” the researchers said. “Future research is needed on the longitudinal effect of folate and the biological mechanisms of its action on pulmonary function.”