A healthy individual has about 500-20,000 µg of folate in body stores. Adults need to absorb approximately 400 µg of folate per day in order to replenish the daily degradation and loss through urine and bile. Otherwise, signs and symptoms of deficiency can manifest after 4 months. The degree of folate absorption depends on its source. Approximately 50% of folate naturally occurring in food is bioavailable, whereas nearly 100% of folic acid supplements are absorbed when consumed fasting, and approximately 85% of folic acid supplementation is absorbed when consumed with food.
Learn more about doses needed to counteract folate deficiency.
This Fast Five Quiz was excerpted and adapted from the Medscape articles Vitamin B Nutritional Disorders, Folate (Folic Acid), Folate Deficiency, Folic Acid, Folate Deficiency Workup, Cyanocobalamin, and Malabsorption.
Follow Medscape on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
Medscape © 2022 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Emmanuel C. Besa. Fast Five Quiz: Vitamin B9 (Folate) - Medscape - Nov 07, 2022.
Comments