Bioavailability of food folates is 80% of that of folic acid

Winkels, Renate M.; Brouwer, Ingeborg A.; Siebelink, Els; Katan, Martijn B.; Verhoef, Petra

doi:10.1093/ajcn/85.2.465

Cited by 86 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…We did not account for the higher bioavailability of supplemental folic acid compared with natural folate. However, the difference in bioavailability may be considerably lower than previously appreciated (Winkels et al, 2007). Furthermore, recalculating folate intakes according to Suitor and Bailey (2000), that is, including naturally occurring folate plus 1.7 times the amount of supplementary folic acid, only affected Spearman correlation coefficients at the third decimal (data not shown).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Validity of food frequency questionnaire estimated intakes of folate and other B vitamins in a region without folic acid fortification

et al. 2010

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Background/Objectives: B vitamins have been implicated in major chronic diseases but results have been inconsistent. This study evaluated the accuracy of dietary intakes of folate, vitamin B12, riboflavin and vitamin B6 as measured by the Northern Sweden Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) against repeated 24-h recalls (24HR) and plasma levels, taking into consideration the MTHFR 677C4T polymorphism. Subjects/Methods: B vitamin intakes assessed by a semi-quantitative FFQ designed to measure the intake over the previous year were compared with those from 10 24HR, as well as to plasma levels of folate and vitamin B12, in randomly selected men (n ¼ 96) and women (n ¼ 99) aged 30-60 years. FFQ-based B-vitamin intakes were also compared with plasma levels of B-vitamins and with MTHFR 677C4T genotype in 878 men, aged 40-61 years. Results: Intakes of vitamins B12 and riboflavin were similar, whereas folate and B6 intakes were 16-27% higher, as estimated by FFQ versus 24HR. Spearman correlation coefficients between the two methods ranged from 0.31 to 0.63 (all Pp0.002), and were lowest for vitamin B12. Intakes estimated by FFQ were correlated with plasma levels, but coefficients were lower (range: 0.13-0.33), particularly for vitamin B12 in men (0.15-0.18). Folate intake was not correlated with plasma levels in subjects with the MTHFR 677 T/T genotype. Conclusions: The validity of the Northern Sweden FFQ for assessing B vitamin intake is similar to that of many other FFQs used in large-scale studies. The FFQ is suitable for ranking individuals by intake of folate, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and to a lesser extent vitamin B12.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Validity of food frequency questionnaire estimated intakes of folate and other B vitamins in a region without folic acid fortification

et al. 2010

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“…4 Latest findings in literature have reported higher bioavailability of folate in foods than previously was suggested. 31 Of interest is that the results also provide a plausible explanation for the relatively low occurrence of SB in Southern European countries where the Mediterranean diet is 10 Nevertheless, this association should be interpreted cautiously, and further studies are needed to substantiate this finding. The PCA and RRR methods have identified a comparable dietary pattern, which was labelled 'Mediterranean' as it was characterised by high intakes of fruits, vegetables, vegetable oils, legumes, fish, alcohol and cereal products and low intakes of potatoes and sweets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The maternal Mediterranean dietary pattern is associated with a reduced risk of spina bifida in the offspring

Vujkovic¹,

Steegers²,

Looman³

et al. 2009

BJOG

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Objective The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis whether a maternal dietary pattern is associated with the risk of spina bifida (SB) in the offspring.Design Case-control study.Setting Eight clinic sites in the Netherlands, 1999Netherlands, -2001 Sample A total of 50 mothers of children with SB and 81 control mothers.Methods Maternal food intakes were obtained by food frequency questionnaires at the standardised study moment of 14 months after the birth of the index child. Principal component factor analysis (PCA) and reduced rank regression (RRR) were used to identify dietary patterns.Main outcome measures Maternal biomarkers were used as response measures in the RRR analysis and composed of serum and red blood cell (RBC) folate, serum vitamin B12 and total plasma homocysteine. The strength of the use of the dietary pattern in association with SB risk was estimated by odds ratios and 95% CI with the highest quartiles of the dietary pattern as reference.Results A predominantly Mediterranean dietary pattern was identified by both PCA and RRR. Those dietary patterns were highly correlated (r = 0.51, P < 0.001) and characterised by joint intakes of fruit, vegetables, vegetable oil, alcohol, fish, legumes and cereals and low intakes of potatoes and sweets. We observed a significantly increased risk of SB offspring in mothers with a weak use of the Mediterranean dietary pattern, OR 2.7 (95% CI 1.2-6.1) and OR 3.5 (95% CI 1.5-7.9). The Mediterranean dietary pattern was correlated with higher levels of serum and RBC folate, serum vitamin B12 and lower plasma homocysteine.Conclusion The Mediterranean dietary pattern seems to be associated with reduction in the risk of offspring being affected by SB.Keywords Factor analysis, folate, Mediterranean diet, neural tube defect, reduced rank regression.Please cite this paper as: Vujkovic M, Steegers E, Looman C, Ocké M, van der Spek P, Steegers-Theunissen R. The maternal Mediterranean dietary pattern is associated with a reduced risk of spina bifida in the offspring. BJOG 2009;116:408-415.

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“…Supplements of folic acid are nearly 100% bioavailable under fasting conditions (31), and a long-term controlled dietary study indicated that the bioavailability of folate in a typical mixed diet was no more than 50% relative to that in a formula diet (32). A recent study showed that bioavailability of food folate was 78% of that of folic acid according to an isotope (33). Most water-soluble vitamins, except vitamin C, bind to proteins or sugars in food, and the bioavailability of these forms is considered to be lower than that of the free forms (5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urinary Water-Soluble Vitamins and Their Metabolite Contents as Nutritional Markers for Evaluating Vitamin Intakes in Young Japanese Women

Fukuwatari

Shibata

2008

J Nutr Sci Vitaminol

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Summary Little information is available to estimate water-soluble vitamin intakes from urinary vitamins and their metabolite contents as possible nutritional markers. Determination of the relationships between the oral dose and urinary excretion of water-soluble vitamins in human subjects contributes to finding valid nutrition markers of water-soluble vitamin intakes. Six female Japanese college students were given a standard Japanese diet in the first week, the same diet with a synthesized water-soluble vitamin mixture as a diet with approximately onefold vitamin mixture based on Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for Japanese in the second week, with a threefold vitamin mixture in the third week, and a sixfold mixture in the fourth week. Water-soluble vitamins and their metabolites were measured in the 24-h urine collected each week. All urinary vitamins and their metabolite levels except vitamin B 12 increased linearly in a dose-dependent manner, and highly correlated with vitamin intake ( r ϭ 0.959 for vitamin B 1 , r ϭ 0.927 for vitamin B 2 , r ϭ 0.965 for vitamin B 6 , r ϭ 0.957 for niacin, r ϭ 0.934 for pantothenic acid, r ϭ 0.907 for folic acid, r ϭ 0.962 for biotin, and r ϭ 0.952 for vitamin C). These results suggest that measuring urinary water-soluble vitamins and their metabolite levels can be used as good nutritional markers for assessing vitamin intakes. Key Words biomarker, human, urine, vitamin A nutritional marker can be an indicator of nutritional status with respect to intake or metabolism of dietary constituents. Nutritional markers can be designated into one or more of three categories, 1) a means of validation of dietary instruments, 2) surrogate indicators of dietary intakes, or 3) integrated measures of nutritional status for a nutrient ( 1 ). Nutritional markers may be interpreted more broadly as a biological consequence of dietary intake or dietary patterns, and contribute to setting recommendations, tolerable levels and guidelines. Recent validation studies have developed the urinary compounds as nutritional markers to estimate nutrient intakes. For example, 24-h urinary nitrogen has been established as a marker for protein intake ( 2 ), the same as urinary potassium for energy and potassium intake ( 3 ), and urinary sugars for sugar intake ( 4 ).Water-soluble vitamins are absorbed from the digestive tract after ingestion, stored in the liver, delivered to peripheral sites and then excreted to urine. Urinary water-soluble vitamins or their metabolites decrease markedly as vitamin status declines, and they are affected by recent dietary intake. Urinary excretion of water-soluble vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin and niacin has been used for setting Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) in the USA and Japan ( 5 , 6 ). However, only a single study investigated urinary vitamins as a possible marker for intake. Individuals' 30-d means of thiamin intake are highly correlated with their mean 24-h urine thiamin levels under strictly controlled conditions, showing 24-h urinary thiamin as a useful m...

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Bioavailability of food folates is 80% of that of folic acid

Abstract: The aggregate bioavailability of folates from fruit, vegetables, and liver is approximately 80% of that of folic acid. The consumption of a diet rich in food folate can improve the folate status of a population more efficiently than is generally assumed.

Cited by 86 publications

References 21 publications

Validity of food frequency questionnaire estimated intakes of folate and other B vitamins in a region without folic acid fortification

Validity of food frequency questionnaire estimated intakes of folate and other B vitamins in a region without folic acid fortification

The maternal Mediterranean dietary pattern is associated with a reduced risk of spina bifida in the offspring

Urinary Water-Soluble Vitamins and Their Metabolite Contents as Nutritional Markers for Evaluating Vitamin Intakes in Young Japanese Women

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