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Body fatness and plasma homocysteine in vegetarian premenopausal women are not associated

Introduction Elevated plasma homocysteine (Hcy) as well as obesity, especially abdominal, increase the risk for developing cardiovascular diseases. Vegetarians usually have lower body weight and follow protective plant-based diet, but due to inadequate vitamin B12 intake can have increased Hcy. Aim To determine correlation between plasma Hcy and measures of body fatness: body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR) and percentage of body fat (% BF). Subjects and methods Vegetarian women (n=81, 7 vegans and 64 lacto-ovo-vegetarians), mean age 33 years (range 20-49 years) participated in the study. Abott AxSYM system was used for measuring plasma Hcy and % BF was measured with Omron BF 300. BMI and WHR were calculated from the measured parameters. Results Hcy level over 10 and 15 &#956; mol/L had 35.8 and 2.5 % subjects, respectively. Seven point four percent of subjects were underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) and 14.8 % were overweight (BMI > 25). Pearson&#8217; s correlation between plasma Hcy and anthropometric parameters was not significant and ANOVA showed no differences in plasma Hcy among quartiles for BMI, % BF and WHR. Conclusion In premenopausal vegetarian women plasma Hcy and measures of body fatness were not associated.

homocysteine; vegetarians; BMI; WHR; body fat

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