FOLATE FACTS

Folate is a B vitamin found in a variety of foods and added to many vitamin and mineral supplements as folic acid, a synthetic form of folate. Folate is needed both before and in the first weeks of pregnancy and can help reduce the risk of certain serious and common birth defects called neural tube defects, which affect the brain and spinal cord.

The tricky part is that neural tube defects can occur in an embryo before a woman realizes she's pregnant. That's why it's important for all women of childbearing age (15 to 45) to include folate in their diets: If they get pregnant, it reduces the chance of the baby having a birth defect of the brain or spinal cord.

Folate's potential to reduce the risk of neural tube defects is so important that the Food and Drug Administration requires food manufacturers to fortify enriched grain products with folic acid. This will give women one way to get sufficient folate: by eating fortified breads and other grain products, such as enriched pasta, rice, waffles and cereal bars.

Other ways to do this are:

• Eat fruits, dark-green leafy vegetables, dried beans and peas, and other foods that are natural sources of folate.
• Eat folic acid-fortified enriched cereal grain products and breakfast cereals.
• Take a vitamin supplement containing folic acid.

Nutrition information on food and dietary supplement labels can help women determine whether they are getting enough folate, which is 400 micrograms (0.4 milligrams) a day before pregnancy and 800 micrograms a day during pregnancy.

Folate Sources

Folate occurs naturally in a variety of foods, including liver; dark-green leafy vegetables such as collards, turnip greens, and Romaine lettuce; broccoli and asparagus; citrus fruits and juices; whole-grain products; wheat germ; and dried beans and peas, such as pinto, navy and lima beans, and chickpeas and black-eyed peas.

Under FDA's folic acid fortification program, which became effective January 1998, the agency requires manufacturers to add from 0.43 mg to 1.4 mg of folic acid per pound of product to enriched flour, bread, rolls and buns, farina, corn grits, cornmeal, rice, and noodle products. A serving of each product will provide about 10 percent of the Daily Value for folic acid. Whole-grain products do not have to be enriched because they contain natural folate. Some of the natural folate in non-whole-grain products is lost in the process of refining whole grains.

Folate also can be obtained from dietary supplements, such as folic acid tablets and multivitamins with folic acid, and from fortified breakfast cereals.

A report recently released by the Institute of Medicine indicates that the evidence suggests that folic acid, the synthetic form of folate, may be better absorbed than folate found naturally in foods. The report also points out that, if taken in adequate amounts, food folate may eventually be demonstrated to be as effective as folic acid.

Some Good Sources of Folate

Food	Serving Size	Amount (Micrograms)	%Daily Value*
Chicken liver	3.5 oz	770	193
Breakfast cereals	1/2 to 1 1/2 cup	100 to 400	25 to 100
Braised beef liver	3.5 oz	217	54
Lentils, cooked	1/2 cup	180	45
Chickpeas	1/2 cup	141	35
Asparagus	1/2 cup	132	33
Spinach, cooked	1/2 cup	131	33
Black beans	1/2 cup	128	32
Burrito with beans	2	118	30
Pasta	2 oz.	100-120	25-30
Kidney beans	1/2 cup	115	29
Cereal bars	1 bar	40-100	10-25
Baked beans with pork	1 cup	92	23
Lima beans	1/2 cup	78	20
White rice, cooked	3/4 cup	60	15
Tomato juice	1 cup	48	12
Brussels sprouts	1/2 cup	47	12
Orange	1 medium	47	12
Broccoli, cooked	1/2 cup	39	10
Fast-food French fries	large order	38	10
Wheat germ	2 tbsp	38	10
Fortified white bread	1 slice	38	10

*based on Daily Value for folate of 400 micrograms
(Source: Food Values of Portions Commonly Used, 16th edition)