HOMOCYSTEINEMIA – A MARKER OF MULTIFACTORIAL DISEASES OF CHILDHOOD

At the present stage, preventive medicine expands its capabilities and boundaries. Epigenetics is one of the young areas of modern science. The term "nutritional epigenetics" is designated – a scientific direction to study the possible influence of nutrients on gene expression. Currently, the question of the influence of nutrition, especially at an early age and at critical age periods, on the modulation of gene expression, the methylation process, which in turn has a certain effect on human health in adulthood, is being actively studied. The article focuses on the folate cycle. To date, data have been accumulated proving the relationship between the deficiency of substances in the folate cycle and a wide variety of human diseases, including those that make the maximum contribution to the overall mortality rate of mankind. One of the markers of folate deficiency is homocysteine, a potentially modifiable and modifiable risk factor for many diseases. If hyperhomocysteinemia is determined from childhood, its timely diagnosis and therapeutic correction will make it possible to prevent the development of many diseases. Allocation of a group of genetic risk for the development of hyperhomocysteinemia (single nucleotide polymorphisms) already in childhood will make it possible to develop a set of preventive measures to reduce the phenotypic manifestation of mutation and level the risk of multifactorial diseases.