Plasma B Vitamers: Population Epidemiology and Parent-Child Concordance in Children and Adults

Abstract

Scope: B vitamers are co-enzymes involved in key physiological processes including energy production, one-carbon, and macronutrient metabolism. Studies profiling B vitamers simultaneously in parent–child dyads are scarce. Profiling B vitamers in parent–child dyads enables an insightful determination of gene–environment contributions to their circulating concentrations. We aimed to characterise: (a) parent–child dyad concordance, (b) generation (children versus adults), (c) age (within the adult subgroup (age range 28–71 years)) and (d) sex differences in plasma B vitamer concentrations in the CheckPoint study of Australian children. Methods and Results: 1166 children (11 ± 0.5 years, 51% female) and 1324 parents (44 ± 5.1 years, 87% female) took part in a biomedical assessment of a population-derived longitudinal cohort study: The Growing Up in Australia’s Child Health CheckPoint. B vitamer levels were quantified by UHPLC/MS-MS. B vitamer levels were weakly concordant between parent–child pairs (10–31% of variability explained). All B vitamer concentrations exhibited generation-specificity, except for flavin mononucleotide (FMN). The levels of thiamine, pantothenic acid, and 4-pyridoxic acid were higher in male children, and those of pantothenic acid were higher in male adults compared to their female counterparts. Conclusion: Family, age, and sex contribute to variations in the concentrations of plasma B vitamers in Australian children and adults.

Salivary metabolomics in the family environment: A large-scale study investigating oral metabolomes in children and their parental caregivers

“…Our study shows that caregiver/child dyad explained most of the salivary metabolome variation, supporting others' similar findings in specific metabolites (22)(23)(24)(25), but previously unknown in large-scale studies measuring the overall metabolome. Many factors are known to affect metabolism, such as age, sex, diet, and increasingly, familial environment, and our work adds an important dimension to this metabolic variability (1,25,27).…”

“…We also find that a small but significant proportion of the variance is explained by how children's and adults' metabolomes differed overall (22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Extending this concept further, subjects generally clustered into two overlapping metabolomic groups, suggesting that people fall into sub-groups with shared features, although we are unable to discern exactly what is causes this grouping (1).…”

“…Likely due to this close social ecology of the home, several studies have shown that the oral microbiome is more similar within cohabitating family members than those outside of the home (18)(19)(20)(21). Perhaps more surprisingly, the overall metabolomes of parental caregivers and their children are more similar than nonfamily individuals, and several metabolites are strongly correlated between family members (22)(23)(24)(25)(26). A well-studied example of these associations is within breastfeeding mothers: Metabolites that mothers produce affect the metabolomes and health of their infants through breastfeeding, and mothers' environmental chemical exposures potentially affect the growing fetuses in utero through placental exposure (27,28).…”

Efficacy and Safety of Ferrous Bisglycinate and Folinic Acid in the Control of Iron Deficiency in Pregnant Women: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

“…The WHO advocates the use of multi-micronutrient supplements in risk groups, such as pregnant women, especially in developing countries where there is a high prevalence of nutrient deficiencies. The B vitamins listed above are common to several supplement types that have been issued for this purpose [ 28 ]. A recent comparative study in mildly anemic pregnant women evaluated supplements containing iron and folate with or without multi-micronutrients, including B-group vitamins.…”

L-shaped association between dietary riboflavin intake and Cognitive impairment in older adults:NHANES 2011-2014

“…Additionally, plasma concentrations of RF have been found to be positively associated with adult age (28-71 years), with adults having higher plasma concentrations of RF (B2) than children [7].…”