Folates are a group of water soluble B vitamins, including the folic acid, which is a synthetic compound used for supplementation purposes and as food fortifier, because it is a very stable option, and other naturally occurring folates (folium means leaves in latin, as it was first isolated from spinach leaves).

There are some folates antagonists, Aminopterin and Methotrexate, both of them used in chemotherapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The folates are also important in chronic diseases prevention, certain cancers, birth defects (its deficiency causes neural tube defects). The folic acid itself is not biologically active, but it is acting like a provitamin, being converted into folates when is transported to the cells. 

Natural food sources of folates are vegetables (dark green leafy vegetables), fruits, nuts, beans, fruit juices, peas and dairy. The ones with high content are:

- beef liver 54% daily value (DV)

- spinach 33% DV

- breakfast cereals 25% DV

- asparagus 22% DV

- avocado 15% DV

-  broccoli 13% DV.

US, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, South Africa all of them had folic acid fortification programmes. In the vitamins there is usually 400 mcg folic acid (multivitamins, prenatal vitamins, B complex vitamins and stand alone supplements). 

There is one issue with them supplements, as lately it was discovered that some epigenetic changes can last a lifetime, and they can even be inherited from mother to child. Folate and other vitamin can be beneficial now, but they can have unintended consequences for the future generations. Every supplement known to turn our genes on/off can be liable of such change. We are just touching the surface of this problem, and much more research is needed. The clear solution for now, try to eat a diversified diet, with as many fruits and vegetables as possible (ideally 85%+ of your total diet). 

Next post will be about absorption and metabolism of the folates. 

Yours truly, 

George

P.S. If you are Romanian, you can also publish your post link in the Publish0x Romanian Community Facebook group for others to read it. 

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Disclaimer: This text is also re-published on my personal blogs, such as this one.