The Importance of Folate

Mar 10, 2011
Michael Koger

Colorful foods - Reprinted with permission from Centers for Disease Control

Folate is an essential B vitamin with many roles in the human body particularly during pregnancy.

Folate is a water soluble vitamin which occurs naturally in food. It is also available in fortified foods and as a supplement in the form of folic acid. In the United States, fortification of foods with folic acid occurred in 1998 when the Food and Drug Administration required it, and the occurrence of neural tube defects such as spinal bifida and underdevelopment of the brain in the offspring has significantly declined since then.

Sources of folate

The name for this vitamin stems from the type of food that contains it. Specifically, it is abundant in green leafy vegetables such as spinach and mustard greens or foliage. Fruit, dried beans, peas, and liver are good sources of it as well. The fortification program implemented the addition of folic acid to cereals, enriched breads, flour, corn meal, pasta, rice, and other grain products.

The recommended dietary allowance for folate increases with age, and adolescents and adults need 400 micrograms each day. Adolescent girls and women who breastfeed require 500 micrograms daily, and during pregnancy, girls and women must take 600 micrograms each day. Pregnant girls and women can obtain folate naturally from food, or they may get it from fortified foods, supplementation, or any combination of these.

Need during pregnancy

The need for this nutrient is especially important for women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant as it prevents neural tube defects in the baby. Since a woman may not know when she becomes pregnant until several weeks have elapsed, all women of childbearing age should maintain an adequate intake of folate so the fetus will obtain enough of the nutrient from the start of pregnancy.

In other words, the woman’s intake of folate must be adequate just before conception takes place and shortly after she becomes pregnant. This time interval is the periconceptual period and includes the days and weeks around the occurrence of conception. Naturally, she must continue to obtain sufficient folate through the entire nine months of gestation as well.

The vitamin has several roles in the human body. First, it helps to produce cells; this is why it is necessary during pregnancy and infancy. Second, it is necessary to make deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid. Third, children and adults have to consume folate in order to make red blood cells. Moreover, the metabolism of homocysteine, an amino acid, depends on the presence of the vitamin.

The discovery of folate took place during the 1930s when scientists noted that deficiency of it led to red cell anemia in which the blood cells were abnormally large though inadequate in hemoglobin.