Seventy-seven depressive inpatients were studied in a pilot study to d
etermine their serum and red cell folate levels at admission. Only one
depressive inpatient with a low serum folate value had a history of a
n illness-related lack of nutrition prior to admission, and the low va
lue was only on day 1 of the study. Our results demonstrate that folat
e acid deficiency is not as common in depressive inpatients as reporte
d, especially in British studies for two reasons: different eating hab
its and a methodological problem.