Case study: Folate bioavailability

Folate nutritional status depends on intake from food and supplements as we ll as on the bioavailability of the various ingested forms of this vitamin. Although many advances in the understanding of folate bioavailability have occurred in recent years. many areas of uncertainty remain, especially wit h respect to naturally occurring dietary folate. This review includes a sum mary of factors that affect folate absorption and utilization, currently us ed and promising methods suitable for the assessment of bioavailability, si gnificant findings on which current understanding is based and research nee ds.