Serum Vitamins D, B9 and B12 in Greek Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Abstract

Deficiencies in vitamin D, folate and cobalamin are common in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The aim of the present study was to assess serum levels of these vitamins in IBD adults based on the respective serum cut off values for vitamin deficiencies, and to explore possible associations with IBD-related biomarkers and nutritional intake. A cross-sectional study was carried out and patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) from Attica-Greece were enrolled. Medical and dietary history, clinical examination and blood/stool biomarkers were evaluated. In total, 87 patients participated in the study. Serum levels of 25(OH)D, folate and cobalamin were deficient in 36.8%, 18.4% and 5.7% of patients, respectively. Linear regression analysis in the overall patients showed positive associations between (a) serum 25(OH)D with serum iron (beta = 0.083, p = 0.005) and (b) serum cobalamin with total bilirubin (beta = 0.357, p = 0.020) and direct bilirubin (beta = 0.727, p = 0.033), adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), disease activity and duration, smoking, nutritional intake and season of recruitment. In CD patients (N = 54), a negative linear association between serum folate and fecal lysozyme was evident (beta = −0.009, p = 0.020). No associations were found for UC patients (N = 33). The serum vitamin profile may be a complementary biomarker for the evaluation of disease activity next to serum and stool inflammatory biomarkers.

Metabolomics as a Promising Resource Identifying Potential Biomarkers for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

“…In line with this, Gioxari and colleagues have recently reproduced these observations in a cohort of Greek IBD patients where they reported a serum deficiency in vitamin D, B9 and B12 in 36.8, 18.4 and 5.7% of patients, respectively. They also correlated these serum metabolite levels with clinical information and pointed to the serum vitamin profile as a complementary biomarker for the evaluation of the disease activity [111]. On the other hand, Weng and colleagues have recently reported that the levels of other vitamins compounds such as vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and nicotinate are significantly reduced in faecal samples from both UC and CD patients compared with healthy controls.…”

An assessment of serum vitamin B12 and folate in patients with Crohn’s disease

“…Studies in literature also reported that serum vitamin profile could be used as a complementary biomarker, along with serum and stool inflammatory biomarkers, to assess disease activity. [38] Further, nutrigenomics studies associated micronutrients like vitamin D, vitamin E, calcium, FA, retinol and nicotinic acid that played a role in gene expression with reduced DNA damage and recommended that they be administered at an adequate dose for the treatment of patients with CD as they played a role in inflammation. [35] Our study has some limitations; first is that it has a retrospective design in a single center.…”

Clinical characteristics and quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease-associated anemia in Southeast China

“…Serum folate and vitamin B12 levels are inversely related to inflammatory markers and disease clinical activity in IBD patients. Therefore, there is a possibility that folate and vitamin B12 supplementation not only increases HGB levels but also reduces disease clinical activity [37,38].…”