title: Folate content and retention in commonly consumed vegetables in the South Pacific.
abstract: This paper reports the effect of boiling and frying on the retention of folate in commonly consumed Fijian vegetables (drumstick leaves, taro leaves, bele leaves, amaranth leaves, fern/ota, okra and French bean). The folate content was determined by microbiological assay (Lactobacillus casei rhamnosus) and tri-enzyme (protease, α-amylase and chicken pancreas conjugase) extraction treatment. The folate loss varied among the vegetables from 10-64% on boiling while 1-36% on frying. The higher folate loss was observed during boiling. The folate content in the water derived after boiling different vegetables ranged from 11.9 ± 0.5 to 61.6 ± 2.5 μg/100mL. The folate loss on boiling was accounted for in the cooking water. The predominant way of folate loss on boiling was leaching rather than thermal degradation which makes boiling the better choice of cooking the studied vegetables for folate intake, provided the cooking water is consumed together with the vegetables.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment, The University of the South Pacific, Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji.
authors.forename: Prayna P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Maharaj
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment, The University of the South Pacific, Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji. Electronic address: prasad_su@usp.ac.fj.
authors.forename: Surendra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment, The University of the South Pacific, Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji.
authors.forename: Riteshma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Devi
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment, The University of the South Pacific, Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji.
authors.forename: Romila
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gopalan
mesh_terms: D003296:Cooking; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005492:Folic Acid
keywords: Folate loss; Folate on cooking; Lactobacillus casei rhamnosus; Tri-enzyme extraction; Vegetable folate