“Having balanced nutrition is also very important to keep my body in shape and healthy.”Cintia Dicker
That’s the right thought. Whether you are a professional athlete, a housewife or kid nutrition shapes your life and your career. Adequate nutrition includes partaking vitamins and minerals in the right quantity.
Let’s look at how important Folate/Vitamin B9 is for our bodies.
Folate or Vitamin B9 is a water-soluble vitamin complex easily available in the nature. Doctors are worried about the rising incidence of its deficiencies in both adults and children.
Let us first take a look at the symptoms of folate deficiency. It is estimated that the body is able to absorb only 50% of the available folate from the food we consume. Folate or vitamin B9 is not available in the required form when we consume folate rich foods. Several enzymes in the intestine convert it into the form required by the body.
The symptoms are so common that they are often overlooked. Some of the common symptoms are:
If you or anybody you know suffers from these symptoms, it is time to consume food rich in B12 or Folate.
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Even if you do not suffer from any of the above mentioned symptoms, you can always include folate rich foods in your diet, for as they say ‘prevention is better than cure!’
Remember that the body is able to regulate the synthesis and will simply drain off the excess folate, and hence you can consume any amount of folate rich food without the worry of side effects.
Low levels of folate have also been linked to higher risk of osteoporotic fracture. This can be easily remedied by consuming fortified bread and cereal products.
Folic acid is also a very important constituent of a diet for pregnant women. Folate rich food helps prevent neural tube defects in the newborn.
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Now that we know the importance of consuming foods rich in B12 and folates, let us look at the foods rich in folate.
A cup of black eyed cooked peas can give you as much as 200 µg of folate. Beans and legumes are a rich source of folate. They also contain potassium, calcium and several other nutrients much needed for the normal functioning of the human body. A cup of these beans provide you more than half of your total daily need. However, raw beans are hard and inedible; you will need to pressure cook them. You can make salads and stews with beans
Don’t cringe at the mention of leafy vegetables. They are rich in folates. Unlike beans, do not overcook green leafy vegetables as prolonged heat can reduce the folate in your food! A cup of raw spinach, if you can manage to down it, can give you a good 260 µg of folate! Other greens like kay, boy choy, mustard greens and asparagus also are rich sources of folate. You can opt for smoothies and soups.
Cereals, a staple breakfast in several households, are also powerhouses of folate. You can derive as much as 100% of your daily folate needs from your bowl of cereal. Make sure you read the nutrition panels on the cereal box before you pick them up at the supermarket!
If you thought that a long glass of lime juice or orange juice is only refreshing, you are mistaken! A medium sized orange can give you 1/5th of your daily folate needs. If juices are a part of your diet, read the labels on your juice carton to be sure they are fortified with extra folate!
Animal liver is known to be extremely nutrient dense. Just 100 g of braise beef liver can constitute as much as 70% of your daily folate needs. Be sure not to consume more than 100 g of liver a day as it is rich in cholesterol and can increase your risk for heart ailments.
The ever popular mangos can provide as much as 50 µg of folate in a serving of 100 grams.
Lace your food with dried herbs and spices such as basil. 100 g of basil provides 310 µg of folate. Just add a basil leaf in your soup to enjoy the benefits of the wonder leaf!
Yes bread, cakes and other baked goodies are rich sources of folate. Baker’s yeast that is used to make these yummies, provides a whopping 2340 µg of folate per 100 g of the powder! A slice of bread contains 80 µg of folates.
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As there are very little chances of overdose from naturally occurring folate, we should increase the intake of folate rich foods in our diet. This will reduce our dependency on synthetic folic acid. With the benefits of folate remunerated above, it is high time that we switch to a folate rich diet and avoid the serious repercussions arising from its deficiency.