What foods are rich in folates?
Natural folates are found in dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens) as well as oranges, broccoli, cauliflower, liver and brewer’s yeast. The absorption efficiency of natural folates is approximately 50% that of supplemental folic acid. This is because natural food folates are pteroylpolyglutamate derivatives. These require cleavage (by an enzyme called folate conjugase) to pteroylmonoglutamate forms prior to absorption from the small intestine. Why supplement with Folic Acid? Folic acid (in supplemental form) is already a pteroylmonoglutamate and therefore does not require this process, making it much more efficiently absorbed as a result. When most health practitioners and astute observers of preventative health and nutrition think of folic acid, they refer to the overwhelming amount of research supporting folic acid’s ability to prevent neural tube defects. So strong is this evidence, in fact, that even the highly reticent U.S. Food & Drug Administ
