Association between low red blood cell 5-methyltetrahydrofolate and hyperhomocysteinaemia with hypertension : a cross-sectional study.

Background: Hyperhomocysteinaemia and other risk factors associated with blood pressure have been reported in large community-based studies in different populations. However, it is not fully established whether hypertension is associated with high plasma total homocysteine levels (tHcy) or components of the homocysteine re-methylation pathway including vitamin B(12), plasma 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) or red blood cell (RBC) 5-MTHF.

Aim: In this study we tested the hypothesis that RBC 5-MTHF could be a marker for long-term folate status in the blood and low RBC 5-MTHF may be associated with hypertension.