Leafy vegetables such as spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, romaine lettuces, dried or fresh beans and peas, fortified grain products (pasta, cereal, bread), sunflower seeds and certain other fruits (orange juice, canned pineapple juice, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, grapefruit juice, banana, raspberry, grapefruit, strawberry) and vegetables (beets, broccoli, corn, tomato juice, vegetable juice, brussels sprouts, bok choy) are rich sources of folate. Liver and liver products also contain high amounts of folate, as does baker's yeast.
Some breakfast cereals (ready-to-eat and others) are fortified with 25% to 100% of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for folic acid. A table of selected food sources of folate and folic acid can be found at the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
Folic acid is added to grain products in many countries, and in these countries fortified products make up a significant source of the population's folic acid intake. Because of the difference in bioavailability between supplemented folic acid and the different forms of folate found in food, the dietary folate equivalent (DFE) system was established. 1 DFE is defined as 1 μg of dietary folate, or 0.6 μg of folic acid supplement. This is reduced to 0.5 μg of folic acid if the supplement is taken on an empty stomach.
Folic acid naturally found in food is susceptible to high heat, UV, and is soluble in water. It is heat labile in acidic environments and may also be subject to oxidation.
Further Reading
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