Inflamed bowel and high folate linked

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have found children with inflammatory bowel disease have surprisingly high folate levels.

Dr. Melvin Heyman and colleagues at the University of California in San Francisco and University of California at Berkeley said children with newly diagnosed cases of inflammatory bowel disease have higher concentrations of folate in their blood than those without the disease, This brings into question the theory that inflammatory bowel disease patients are prone to folate deficiency, the researchers said.

Previous research has shown adults with inflammatory bowel disease tend to have lower folate levels than those without the disease, Heyman said.

"However, pediatric inflammatory bowel disease appears to be somewhat different from the adult form, and before this study very little was known about folate levels in newly diagnosed children with this disease," study senior author Nina Holland said in a statement.

"This is exciting work that opens the door to additional research into the role of folic acid and its genetic basis in the development of inflammatory bowel disease, especially in young patients," Heyman said.

Heyman explained inflammatory bowel disease -- a blanket term referring to illnesses that cause chronic inflammation in the intestines such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease -- occurs in children of all ages and can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, bleeding and nutritional deficiencies.

The findings appear in February's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.