Fortified Food Sources of Folate

Folate is an essential vitamin also known as folic acid, in its synthetic form, or vitamin B6. Folate is crucial to the process of replicating DNA and RNA, and is therefore important during periods of rapid cell division to prevent mutation and cancer. In 1996, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated the enrichment of certain types of food with folate. The recommended daily intake of folate is 400 micrograms.

Cereal

• Three-fourths of a cup of some highly enriched breakfast cereal contains 100 percent of the daily recommended intake of folate. Children's character cereals, though enriched, are on the low end of the FDA requirements. These sugary cereals can have as little as one-quarter as much folate as highly enriched cereals, but are still good sources of folic acid. Cereal breakfast bars, however, usually have negligible folate content.

Bread

• Whole grain bread contains natural folate. But this important nutrient is lost in the refining process that produces non-whole wheat grain products. Thus, white bread and other non-whole wheat products, like rolls and buns, are subject to the FDA-enrichment mandate. By law, enriched-grain products must have 0.43 to 1.4 milligrams of folic acid per pound. A single slice of white bread has about 33 to 38 micrograms of folic acid.

Pasta and Flour

• Most pasta is made from non-whole wheat flour and is therefore enriched with folate. Other products made from white flour, such as crackers, cookies, and flour tortilla and noodle products, are fortied. A 1/2 cup of egg noodles has about 50 micrograms of folic acid. Flours made from plant sources other than whole grain wheat, including farina, corn meal, grits, rice and oatmeal are also fortified with folic acid. These products are typically labeled as being enriched and display their folic acid content on nutritional labels. A 1/2 cup of white rice contains about 65 micrograms of folic acid, or roughly 15 percent of the recommended daily intake.

Juice

• Oranges, papaya and other fruits contain natural folate, and so do their juices, even when made from concentrate. Some artificial juices that lack this nutrition compensate by being fortified with folic acid, often far beyond the natural folate content of the fresh fruit. Three-fourths cup of orange juice contains about 10 percent of the daily intake of folate, but fortified juice can have up to 100 percent.

Natural Sources

• A diet that includes several servings of fruit, vegetables and legumes everyday should include enough folate without fortified foods. Natural sources of folate include leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits, beans, peas, peanuts, asparagus, avocado and strawberries. Another common way many adults increase daily folate intake is through multivitamins, most of which contain the full 400-microgram recommended intake. Some vitamins contain only B vitamins, and these almost always include folic acid.