Folic Acid Foods

Folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, folate, folacin or pteroylglutamic acid is a vitamin belonging to the B complex group. Folic acid is required for different metabolic processes of the human body. Many times folic acid supplements are given, though it is a part of most of the foods of our daily diet. This is because vitamin B9 gets easily destroyed when the veggies are overcooked, as it is a water-soluble vitamin. That is why you should avoid overcooking. Also consume the ready-to-eat foods that contain this vitamin. This was only an introduction of folic acid. Let us now see why folic acid is important, followed by the list of folic acid foods.

Importance of Folic Acid

Folic acid is one of the most nutrient required by the body. It mainly helps in the production of red blood cells and tissue cells which are required to maintain the health of our digestive system. Amino acid homocysteine is one of the factors responsible for heart diseases and heart attacks, high level of this amino acid is also said to lead to physical degeneration of certain brain parts. Folic acid is important nutrient that prevents the build up of too much homocysteine. Folic acid and pregnancy are also connected. The need for folic acid increases during pregnancy, this is because folic acid helps for efficient development of neural tube during pregnancy, this is the tube which forms the spinal cord and brain. Folic acid deficiency can lead to birth of premature babies or babies with neural tube defects. Neural tube defects cause conditions like spina bifida. So expecting mother should consume folic acid foods for pregnancy. Another very important folic acid benefit is that it is said to prevent breast and pancreatic cancer, however more research on this subject is necessary. Though there are so many benefits of folic acid, it should not be consumed more than the recommended dosage as then, it can lead to folic acid side effects. The following are foods high in folic acid, which contain only the sufficient amount of vitamin B9, and so these folate rich foods can be consumed without any fear.

Foods High in Folic Acid

• Corn
• Brussels sprouts
• Rutabaga
• Asparagus
• Baked beans
• Turnips
• Kiwi fruit
• Papaya fruit
• Green peas
• Milk (all types) soy & white beans
• Baked potato
• Peanuts
• Raspberries, blackberries
• Cabbage
• Avocado
• Kidney beans
• Great Northern beans
• Eggs
• Cooked carrots, beet greens, snow peas, summer or winter squash
• Tomato juice
• Broccoli
• Bananas
• Ready-to-eat breakfast cereal
• Enriched wheat tortilla
• Strawberries
• Whole wheat tortilla
• Enriched white bread
• Enriched pasta, cooked
• Whole wheat bread
• Sweet potato, baked
• Cauliflower
• Parsnips
• Cantaloupe
• Beef liver
• Chicken giblets
• Iceberg lettuce
• Parsley
• Tahini paste
• Lima beans
• Whole wheat pasta
• Beets
• Lentils, cooked
• Black-eyed peas, dried, cooked
• Pinto beans or chickpeas, cooked
• Sunflower seeds, dry-roasted
• Okra, cooked
• Orange juice
• English muffin made with enriched flour
• Spinach, raw
• Collards, frozen
• Grapefruit/pineapple juice
• Wheat germ, toasted or raw
• Romaine lettuce, shredded
• Bagel made with enriched flour
• Walnuts (halves), cashews (halves or whole)

As stated earlier, folic acid is required by everyone, especially by pregnant women. Instead of taking folic acid supplements, you should include the above mentioned folic acid foods in your diet. And the above mentioned foods are actually the foods we regularly eat, so including them in the diet should not be a problem.