subject: Know More About Of Folate [print this page] Folic acid also known as vitamin B9 , folacin, and folate as well as pteroyl-L-glutamic acid and pteroyl-L-glutamate which are forms of the water-soluble vitamin B9 . The folate is mostly do not remain biologically active with its biological importance because of tetrahydrofolate and many other derivatives after it get converted to dihydrofolic acid in the liver. The folate is essential to many numerous bodily functions which ranges from nucleotide biosynthesis to remethylation of homocysteine. Folate is especially not only important for fast cell division but alos for growth . Both children and adults required folate for producing healthy red blood cells and preventing anemia. Folate and folic acid is a outcome of Latin word folium . Leafy vegetables is a principle source of folate but in many Western diets fortified cereals and bread are the larger dietary source of folate.
Lack of dietary folate leads to folate deficiency resulting in various health problems especially development of neural tube defects in the embryos.
Leafy vegetables like spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, lettuces, dried and fresh beans and peas, fortified cereal products, sunflower seeds and many other fruits and vegetables are count as rich sources of folate. The liver and liver products contain high amounts of folate as found in the baker's yeast. Some breakfast cereals are fortified with 25% to 100% of mentioned dietary allowance for folate. The table of selected food sources of folate and folic acid one can find at the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. So the folate is included in many grain products in several countries. As a result these countries fortified products maintains significant source of folate. The difference in bioavailability is seen especially between supplemented folate and the different forms of folate presents in food as a result the dietary folate equivalent system was established. So one users should know that 1 DFE is considered as 1 g of dietary folate.
Most of the biological functions of folate are performed by tetrahydrofolate and several other derivatives. So their biological prescence in the body depends upon dihydrofolate reductase action in the liver. One will be surprised by the fact that same action is unusually slower in human beings at least less than 2% in comparison to rats. As per reports of the researcher Lucy Wills in the year 1931 revealed the identification of folate as such a nutrient which helps in preventing anemia in case of pregnancy. So in this way Dr. Wills explained that anemia could be reversed with brewer's yeast. Folate was considered as the corrective substance in brewer's yeast which was isolated in spinach leaves by Mitchell in the year 1941. so users should read more about folate so as to make best usage of folate in daily life.
