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Abstract

ductase (MTHFR) is a good model in which to study nutrigenetic and nutrigenomic mechanisms related to folate in populations with a contrasting status. Indeed, this polymorphism reduces by 75 % the catalytic rate of the enzyme and therefore is a key genetic determi-nant of the folate imbalance between DNA synthesis and methyl-ation. Despite a north-to-south increasing gradient of 677T allele frequency in Western Europe, this polymorphism may correspond to a single ancestral mutation because it is associated with a common haplotype of the gene (1). Folate has a strong influence on the phenotypic consequences of this polymorphism by neutralizing its effect on homocysteine plasma concentration (2). We have observed an association between T allele frequency and the contrasting folate status of populations that suggests an influence of folate status on the worldwide distribution of T alleles. In our opinion, one of the major factors that may explain the north-to-south increasing gradient of

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