Grant: Team Grant: Biomarkers in Nutrition and Health (BioNH)

Riboflavin, or vitamin B2, plays a crucial role in human development and health across the lifespan. Recently, an increase in riboflavin intake was suggested to having a blood pressure reducing effect. In most countries, there is little or no knowledge about the riboflavin nutritional status of the population due to the lack of convenient blood indicators and assessment tools. Dietary records are the sole source of information for most countries; however these do not reflect the biochemical status of the population which is a better indicator of health effects related to suboptimal riboflavin intake. In this international and multidisciplinary project, we aim to develop accessible blood indicators for riboflavin status assessment and identify which most sensitively reflect dietary intakes and food sources of riboflavin in Irish and Canadian adults. We will also demonstrate an important health effect of riboflavin by investigating its role in modulating blood pressure via a novel gene-nutrient interactive effect. In summary, suboptimal riboflavin status may be more widespread than is generally recognized across the developed world, because of the reliance on dietary data only in nutrition surveys, without blood indicator evidence. This project will address this gap by developing accessible riboflavin blood indicators for use in population surveys globally, and by demonstrating important functional, gene-nutrient and health effects of optimal riboflavin status in Canadian, Irish and UK cohorts.