What foods provide folate or folic acid?
Leafy greens such as spinach and turnip greens, dry beans and peas, fortified cereals and grain products, and some fruits and vegetables are rich food sources of folate. Some breakfast cereals (ready-to-eat and others) are fortified with 25 percent or 100 percent of the Daily Value (DV) for folic acid. The table of selected food sources of folate and folic acid suggests dietary sources of this vitamin5. In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published regulations requiring the addition of folic acid to enriched breads, cereals, flours, corn meals, pastas, rice, and other grain products6-8. This ruling took effect January 1, 1998, and was specifically targeted to reduce the risk of neural tube birth defects in newborns9. Since the folic acid fortification program took effect, fortified foods have become a major source of folic acid in the American diet. Synthetic folic acid that is added to fortified foods and dietary supplements has a simpler chemical structure than the natura
