Folate catabolite excretion is responsive to changes in dietary folate intake in elderly women.

Background: The major route of folate turnover is by catabolic cleavage of the C9-N10 bond producing p-aminobenzoylglutamate (pABG) and its primary excretory form, p-acetamidobenzoylglutamate (ApABG). We hypothesize that total pABG (ApABG + pABG) excretion parallels both the mass of body folate pools from which these catabolites originate and the folate-status indicators.

Objective: The objective was to determine whether urinary folate catabolite excretion reflects body pool size and parallels the static and functional measures of folate status.