title: Occurrence, stability, and determination of formyl folates in foods.
abstract: The B-vitamin folate has specific tasks as a one-carbon (C1) group supplier in the building and repair of DNA and RNA as well as in the methylation of homocysteine to methionine. Folate occurs in all living cells as a dynamic pool of several interconvertible forms carrying different C1 groups. Along the food chain, this dynamic pool of folates constantly changes due to either enzymatic or chemical interconversions during food processing and storage. These interconversions make it difficult to determine individual folate forms in foods. The formyl folates, the second most predominant forms of food folates, after 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, are particularly prone to interconvert at low pH. Today, this knowledge is often neglected, leading to risks for analytical underestimation of formyl folates. The purpose of the review is to explore the stability and interconversions of formyl folates in foods as well as to analyze the pitfalls in the determination of formyl folates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) , P.O. Box 7051, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Margaretha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jägerstad
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jastrebova
mesh_terms: D005504:Food Analysis; D005511:Food Handling; D005575:Formyltetrahydrofolates / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014803:Vitamin B Complex / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005575:Formyltetrahydrofolates; D014803:Vitamin B Complex