title: Folate content and availability in Malaysian cooked foods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Data on folate availability of Malaysian cooked foods would be useful for estimation of dietary folate intake; however such information is scarce.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 53 samples of frequently consumed foods in Malaysia were selected from the Nutrient Composition of Malaysian Foods. Folate content was determined using HPLC method hyphenated with a stainless steel C18 column and ultraviolet detector (lambda = 280 nm). The index of folate availability was defined as the proportion of folate identified as monoglutamyl derivatives from the total folate content.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total folate content of different food samples varied from 30-95 microg/100g fresh weight. Among rice-based dishes, the highest and the lowest total folate was in coconut milk rice (nasi lemak) and ghee rice (nasi minyak), respectively. In noodle dishes, fried rice noodle (kuey teow goreng) and curry noodle (mee kari) had the highest folate contents. The highest index of folate availability was in a flat rice noodle dish (kuey teow bandung) (12.13%), while the lowest was in a festival cake (kuih bakul) (0.13%). Folate content was found to be negatively related to its availability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study determined folate content and folate availability in commonly consumed cooked foods in Malaysia. The uptake of folate from foods with high folate content may not be necessarily high as folate absorption also depends on the capacity of intestinal deconjugation and the presence of high fibre in the foods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Chew
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health, International Medical University, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Khor
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Loh
mesh_terms: D001682:Biological Availability; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003296:Cooking; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D005502:Food; D005504:Food Analysis; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005492:Folic Acid