Acute absorption of folic acid from a fortified low-fat spread

Abstract

Objective: To explore the feasibility of low-fat spreads as vehicles for folic acid (FA) fortification by determining the acute absorption of FA from a fortified spread. Design: Double blind, crossover study to test each of the following treatments administered at 1-weekly intervals: (A) 20 g lowfat (40%) spread fortified with 200 mg FA and a placebo tablet; (B) 20 g low-fat placebo spread and a 200 mg FA tablet; (C) 20 g low-fat placebo spread and a placebo tablet. Subjects: A total of 13 male volunteers, aged 31.8713.2 y. Main outcome measures: Plasma total folate concentrations, measured before and up to 10 h after each treatment (n ¼ 10 samples per treatment). Results: Plasma folate concentrations were significantly increased compared with baseline values 1 h after administration of the FA tablet, and 1.5 h after the FA spread, and remained significantly higher than the baseline values for up to 7 h after both treatments. The maximum plasma folate response (R max ), corrected for baseline values and 'placebo response', was established between 1 and 3 h postprandially in response to both FA spread and FA tablet, and no significant difference in R max was found between the two treatments (13.4 vs 14.4 nmol/l, P ¼ 0.9). The acute absorption of FA from fortified spread relative to that from the tablet, calculated on the basis of area under the plasma folate response curve, was 67% (P ¼ 0.04). Conclusion: The absorption of FA from fortified low-fat spread, although lower than from a tablet, is effective. These results suggest that low-fat spreads, typically associated with fat-soluble vitamin fortification, may also be considered feasible as vehicles for FA fortification.

The rate of intestinal absorption of natural food folates is not related to the extent of folate conjugation

“…decrease the folate content of the test day menu, all foods included in the lunch meal were boiled 3 times (the water was discarded after each boiling) and then seasoned and stir-fried before serving to increase palatability as detailed elsewhere (28). Duplicate portions of the low-folate diet were analyzed for total folate content.…”

Strategies to increase folate/folic acid intake in women: an overview

“…Pentieva et al . (2003) have demonstrated that a low‐fat spread can be an effective vehicle for folic acid fortification.…”

International inter-laboratory analyses of food folate

“…The problem of food folate data became more apparent after trienzyme extraction (use of three enzymes including protease, a-amylase and folate conjugase) was recognized as the preferred method of food folate extraction compared to traditional conjugase treatment alone (De Souza and Eitenmiller, 1990;Martin et al, 1990). In the last several years, the use of this method has become popular (Tamura et al, 1997;Pfeiffer et al, 1997;Lim et al, 1998;Tamura, 1998;Rader et al, 1998Rader et al, , 2000Aiso and Tamura, 1998;Konings, 1999;Eitenmiller and Landen, 1999;Konings et al, 2001;DeVries et al, 2001;Johnston et al, 2002a, b;Iwatani et al, 2003;Doherty and Beecher, 2003;Yon and Hyun, 2003;McKillop et al, 2002McKillop et al, , 2003Han and Tyler, 2003;Pentieva et al, 2003), although results were not always satisfactory (Shrestha et al, 2000;Ndaw et al, 2001). At the Third International Food Data Conference held in Rome in 1999, the working group on ''Folate Bioavailability'' reached a consensus that the use of certified reference materials of known folate content should be encouraged in addition to the improvement in folate assay methods.…”