Effects of consuming red furu (fermented bean curd) on serum vitamin B-12, homocysteine and other cardiometabolic risk factors in young healthy volunteers: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND AND

OBJECTIVES

The health benefits of red furu in young, healthy volunteers had not been adequately investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a single meal containing red furu on serum vitamin B-12 (B-12), homocysteine and other cardiometabolic risk factors compared with that of tofu.

METHODS AND STUDY

DESIGN

Twenty-three healthy volunteers from Zhejiang University, China, were randomly assigned to two groups of consumption, either red furu (n=11, 5 women and 6 men) or tofu (n=12, 6 women and 6 men). Volunteers consumed one breakfast meal composed of either 50 g of red furu (intervention group) or 50 g of tofu (non-active comparison group) with two slices of bread. Fasting blood was collected at 0 h, 24 h, and 72 h. Standard methods were used to measure the volunteers' biochemical parameters.

RESULTS

The consumption of 50 g of red furu a day did not significantly affect serum B-12 and showed a non-significant trend to reduce serum homocysteine. In the red furu group, but not in tofu group, serum concentrations of B-12 and folate were negatively associated with homocysteine, and B-12 was positively associated with folate.

CONCLUSIONS

A breakfast meal with 50 g of red furu containing 0.096 μg of B-12 did not increase serum B-12 in healthy volunteers. These results suggested that one meal containing B-12 could be sufficient to reduce serum Hcy.