Plasma homocysteine levels in female patients with eating disorders

Joseph Levine, Eitan Gur, Ron Loewenthal, Tali Vishne, Tzvi Dwolatzky, Ingrid M. Van Beynum, Ben Ami Sela, Iris Vered, Galit Yosef, Daniel Stein

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To examine plasma homocysteine, vitamin B12, and folate levels in females with restricting and bingeing/purging eating disorders (EDs). Method: Adolescent and adult female patients were compared to appropriate control groups with regard to plasma homocysteine levels. Results: The plasma homocysteine level of the adult ED patients was higher than that of controls for all age groups examined. In adolescents, no significant difference was found comparing ED patients younger than 16 years of age to control data, whereas in the 16-20 year age group, the plasma homocysteine level was significantly higher among the ED group, regardless of the type of ED. Vitamin B12 and folate levels were within normal limits in all ED groups. Conclusion: Elevated plasma homocysteine levels were found in adult and older adolescent female ED patients (but not in younger adolescents) compared to controls. This finding is not related to deficiencies in vitamin B12 or folate.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)277-284
Number of pages8
JournalInternational Journal of Eating Disorders
Volume40
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2007
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Anorexia nervosa
  • Bone density
  • Bulimia nervosa
  • Homocysteine

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