Role of folic acid and vitamin B12 with thyroid hormones in pregnant women

Abstract

Nutrition and epigenetic changes is the emerging topic of interest in newlinethe present scenario to understand the effects of increased supplementation newlineof micronutrients like folic acid (FA). The study is taken up in the public newlinehealth interest, to evaluate the importance of balancing the different newlinemicronutrients in the diet to avoid unbalanced nutritional disorders and other health complications later in life. The present study is carried out to estimate newlinethe status of folic acid and vitamin B12 in cord blood, along with placental newlineDNA methylation and to study the levels of thyroid hormones in healthy and newlinehypothyroid pregnant women for all the three trimesters. The study also newlineevaluated the ratio of folate and vitamin B12, and studied the effect of altered newlineratios of vitaminB12 and folate on the patterns of thyroid hormones from the newlinetime of conception till delivery in both normal and hypothyroid pregnant newlinewomen. Further the ratio of cord blood folate and vitamin B12 was correlated newlinewith the placental DNA methylation of two genes newlineMethyltetrahydrofolatereductase gene (MTHFR Gene) specific to folic acid newlineand transcobalamin 2 (TCN2) to vitamin B12. newline