Volume 90, Issue 2, August (2003), pp. 473-479 © The Author 2003
doi:10.1079/BJN2003889

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Folate bioavailability: UK Food Standards Agency workshop report

Peter Sanderson¹, Helene McNulty², Pierpaolo Mastroiacovo³, Ian F. W. McDowell⁴, Alida Melse-Boonstra⁵, Paul M. Finglas⁶, Jess F. Gregory III^7
1Nutrition Division, Food Standards Agency, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London, WC2 6NH, , UK
²School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, UK
³Department of Paediatrics and Childhood Neuroscience, Catholic University and International Centre on Birth Defects, Rome, Italy
⁴Department of Medical Biochemistry, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK
⁵Division of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
⁶Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK
⁷Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

 (Received 4 March 2003–Accepted 3 April 2003)

The UK Food Standards Agency convened a group of expert scientists to review current research investigating folate bioavailability. The workshop aimed to overview current research and establish priorities for future research. Discrepancies were observed in the evidence base for folate bioavailability, especially with regard to the relative bioavailability of natural folates compared with folic acid. A substantial body of evidence shows folic acid to have superior bioavailability relative to food folates; however, the exact relative bioavailability still needs to be determined, and in particular with regard to mixed diets. The bioavailability of folate in a mixed diet is probably not a weighted average of that in the various foods consumed; thus the workshop considered that assessment of folate bioavailability of whole diets should be a high priority for future research.

Keywords:
Folate bioavailability, Folic acid supplementation, Food Standards Agency workshop, Nutrition research

Abbreviations:
FSA, UK Food Standards Agency, MTHF, methylenetetrahydrofolate, MTHFR, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, NTD, neural tube defects, tHcy, total homocysteine, THF, tetrahydrofolate