Nutritional status of flexitarians compared to vegans and omnivores - a cross-sectional pilot study

Bruns, Anja; Nebl, Josefine; Jonas, Wiebke; Hahn, Andreas; Schuchardt, Jan Philipp

doi:10.1186/s40795-023-00799-6

BMC Nutrition

Table 3 Biomarkers of cobalamin and folate status

From: Nutritional status of flexitarians compared to vegans and omnivores - a cross-sectional pilot study

Parameter	FX n = 32	P FX-V	V n = 33	P V-OMN	OMN n = 29	P FX-OMN	P overall
Parameter	\({\varvec{n}}(\boldsymbol{\%})/\widetilde{{\varvec{x}}}({\varvec{I}}{\varvec{Q}}{\varvec{R}})\)	P FX-V	\({\varvec{n}}(\boldsymbol{\%})/\widetilde{{\varvec{x}}}({\varvec{I}}{\varvec{Q}}{\varvec{R}})\)	P V-OMN	\({\varvec{n}}(\boldsymbol{\%})/\widetilde{{\varvec{x}}}({\varvec{I}}{\varvec{Q}}{\varvec{R}})\)	P FX-OMN	P overall
Cobalamin [pmol/L]	204 (169–244)	0.010	300 (200–428)	0.658	236 (198–306)	0.311	0.013^a
Deficient [< 150 pmol/L], n (%)	4 (13)		5 (15)		4 (14)		0.609^b
SU	218 (177–328)	n.s	318 (221–458)	n.s	235 (196–349)	n.s	0.138^a
Non-SU	204 (168–232)	n.s	156 (111–236)	n.s	237 (198–306)	n.s	0.064^a
Holo-TC [pmol/L]	60.9 (46.8–74.4)	0.022	94.2 (56.1–116)	1.000	76.6 (55.0–92.5)	0.162	0.021^a
Deficient [< 35 pmol/L], n (%)	0 (0)		3 (9)		1 (3)		0.445^b
SU	63.5 (44.7–72.3)	0.035	107 (66.3–118)	1.000	90.3 (65.9–129)	0.256	0.038^a
Non-SU	59.5 (50.4–74.9)	0.158	47.5 (33.6–56.1)	0.013	74.9 (54.8–86.3)	0.465	0.015^a
MMA [nmol/L]	224 (186–292)	n.s	207 (160–262)	n.s	219 (164–242)	n.s	0.352^a
Elevated [> 271 nmol/L], n (%)	11 (34)		8 (24)		4 (14)		0.347^b
tHcy [µmol/L]	12.0 (9.80–15.1)	n.s	9.70 (7.90–11.8)	n.s	10.5 (9.40–13.2)	n.s	0.095^a
Elevated [> 10 µmol/L], n (%)	24 (75)		13 (39)		19 (66)		0.500^b
4cB₁₂	-0.07 (-0.35–0.19)	0.006	0.34 (-0.18–0.74)	0.633	0.20 (-0.10–0.31)	0.290	0.009^a
Undersupply [< -0.5 to -2.5], n (%)	4 (13)		3 (9)		3 (10)		0.448^b
Deficient [< -2.5], n (%)	0 (0)		0 (0)		0 (0)
SU	0.19 (0.15–0.25)	n.s	0.46 (0.19–0.85)	n.s	0.22 (-0.04–0.53)	n.s	0.057^a
Non-SU	-0.26 (-0.36–0.12)	0.620	-0.44 (-1.05–0.10)	0.037	0.17 (-0.11–0.23)	0.206	0.028^a
Folate [nmol/L]	16.8 (10.6–22.0)	0.064	21.75 (15.1–35.1)	0.033	15.8 (9.52–21.0)	1.000	0.019^a
Deficient [< 6.8 nmol/L], n (%)	1 (3)		0 (0)		2 (7)		0.157^b
SU	21.6 (18.5–27.1)	n.s	23.1 (15.8–37.8)	n.s	19.7 (13.3–25.8)	n.s	0.621^a
Non-SU	13.6 (10.1–19.9)	n.s	16.0 (10.6–20.3)	n.s	15.4 (9.29–21.0)	n.s	0.825^a

P ≤ 0.05 shows statistical significance
P-values in bold represent statistical significance
IQR Interquartile range, FX Flexitarians, V Vegans, OMN Omnivores, SU Supplement user, non-SU Non-supplement user, Holo-TC Holotranscobalamin, MMA Methylmalonic acid, tHcy tTotal homocysteine, 4cB₁₂ Four markers combined cobalamin-indicator adjusted by age: probable cobalamin deficiency (< -2.5), possible cobalamin deficiency (-2.5 to -1.5), low cobalamin (-1.5 to -0.5), cobalamin adequacy (-0.5 to 1.5), elevated cobalamin (> 1.5) [27], Folate (serum): cut-off-values bases on [42]
^aKruskal-Wallis test with post hoc test and Bonferroni correction, ^bChi-Square test

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