Related Experiment Videos
Quantifying folate bioavailability: a critical appraisal of methods
Alida Melse-Boonstra1, Petra Verhoef, Clive West
1Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences, Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care
|August 6, 2004
Summary
Accurately estimating folate bioavailability is crucial for dietary reference intakes. Multiple oral dose studies are superior to single-dose designs for measuring folate absorption and metabolism, with total diet studies urgently needed.
Area of Science:
- Nutrition Science
- Biochemistry
- Human Metabolism
Background:
- Dietary reference intakes for folate depend on accurate folate bioavailability estimates.
- Folate bioavailability assessment is critical for understanding nutritional status and requirements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current methods for quantifying dietary folate and folate vitamer bioavailability in humans.
- To emphasize isotopic labeling techniques developed over the past 15 years.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing studies on folate bioavailability quantification.
- Focus on isotopic labeling techniques for measuring folate absorption and metabolism.
- Comparison of single-dose versus multiple-dose study designs.
Main Results:
- Most studies use single-dose designs, often requiring high folic acid doses and pre-study saturation, with poorly understood effects.
- Multiple oral dose designs are preferred for a better understanding of folate absorption and metabolism.
- Reliable data on folate bioavailability from total diets are currently lacking, despite studies on specific compounds and single foods.
Conclusions:
- Multiple oral dose designs are the optimal approach for measuring folate bioavailability due to limitations of single-dose designs.
- Urgent need for studies assessing folate bioavailability from total diets to inform current folate intake recommendations.