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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010 Jul 21;64(9):933–939. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2010.142

Table 3.

Serum concentrations of vitamin B12 and folate according to diet group

Omnivores
(n = 226)		 Vegetarians
(n = 231)		 Vegans
(n = 232)
Serum Vitamin B12 (pmol/l) [mean (95% CI)] 281 (270 - 292)1a 182 (175 - 189)b 122 (117 - 127)c
“Deficient” < 118 pmol/l 1 (0) 16 (7) 121 (52)
“Depleted” 118 to 149 pmol/l 3 (1) 40 (17) 48 (21)
“Sufficient” ≥ 150 pmol/l 222 (98) 175 (76) 63 (27)
Serum Folate (nmol/l) [mean (95% CI)] 20·0 (19·1 - 21·0)a 28·0 (26·7 - 29·4)b 37·5 (35·8 - 39·3)c
“Deficient” < 6·3 nmol/l 2 (1) 0 0
“Sufficient” ≥ 6.3 nmol/l 224 (99) 231 (100) 232 (100)

Values are n (%), except where indicated otherwise

1

Differences in the means between the diet groups were tested for by using ANOVA.

a

Different superscript letters indicate statistically significant differences, P < 0.001

b

Different superscript letters indicate statistically significant differences, P < 0.001

c

Different superscript letters indicate statistically significant differences, P < 0.001