Aleurone flour is a rich source of bioavailable folate in humans

With the use of novel milling technology, it has become commercially viable to isolate the aleurone layer of cells from wheat grain and to prepare a novel flour from this fraction that has a natural folate concentration of approximately 500 microgram/100 g. The aim of this study was to determine the relative bioavailability of natural folate from aleurone flour when ingested as a cereal. Using a series of randomized, short-term intervention trials with a cross-over involving eight men and eight women aged between 29 and 50 y, we compared the increment of plasma folate following ingestion of 1) 100 g wheat bran cereal (low folate control), 2) 100 g aleurone cereal, and 3) a tablet containing 500 microgram folic acid taken together with 100 g wheat bran cereal (high folate control). Folate absorption was measured by estimating the area under the plasma folate concentration versus time curve. The extent of increase in plasma folate over the 7-hour period following ingestion of aleurone cereal was more than fourfold greater than that observed following the wheat bran cereal (P < 0.0001) and not different from that observed following the 500 microgram folic acid tablet taken with wheat bran cereal. Differences were significant when data for males and females were analyzed separately (P < 0.001). This study has shown that cereal made from wheat aleurone flour is a good source of bioavailable, natural folate.