What You Need to Know About Folate

Folic Acid for Pregnancy

Folic acid is the form of folate found in vitamin supplements. Pregnant women require a folic acid supplement for the proper development of the baby's brain, skull and spinal cord and to prevent some birth defects, especially during the first four weeks of pregnancy. It is recommend that all women who could become pregnant, are planning a pregnancy or are pregnant take a daily folic acid supplement.

An adequate intake of folic acid is essential for all women during pregnancy to reduce the risk of a baby being born with a neural tube defect (NTD). The neural tube is the part of the developing baby that becomes the brain and spinal cord. A NTD occurs when the neural tube does not fully close.

Folic Acid Supplementation

Although folate can be found in many foods when eating a healthy well-balanced diet, dietary sources alone are not enough to reach the required folic acid level to protect against NTDs. Therefore, it is recommended that women take 0.4 mg of folic acid daily starting three months before getting pregnant, throughout their pregnancy and until four to six weeks postpartum or for the duration of breastfeeding. Future mothers are also strongly encouraged to maintain a folate-rich diet.

Speak to your healthcare professional to determine the right dose of folic acid to take and multivitamin product recommendations that contain enough folic acid to meet your needs.

Folate Food Sources

Folate is found in a variety of healthy foods such as enriched grain products, cooked dried peas, beans, and lentils as well as many vegetables like spinach, broccoli and asparagus.

See the table below for a list of common food sources.

Food Group	Food	Serving size	Folate (mcg)

Vegetables and Fruit
	Spinach, cooked	250 mL (1 cup)	278
	Kale, raw	250 mL (1 cup)	100
	Broccoli, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	89
	Asparagus, cooked	4 spears	88
	Brussels sprouts, frozen, cooked	4 sprouts	85
	Avocado	½ fruit	81
	Lettuce, romaine or mesclun	250 mL (1 cup)	73
	Beets, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	72
	Spinach, raw	250 mL (1 cup)	61
	Papaya	½ fruit	56
	Potato, with skin, baked	1 medium	48
	Cantaloupe	250 mL (1 cup)	36
	Orange	medium	26

Grain Products
	Pasta, egg noodles, enriched, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	138
	Pasta, spaghetti, white, enriched, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	88
	Cracker, saltine	10 crackers	65
	Bread, white	1 slice (35 g)	62
	Bagel plain	½ bagel (44.5 g)	14
	Bread, whole wheat	1 slice (35 g)	11

Milk and Alternatives	This food group contains very little of this nutrient

Meat and Alternatives
	Liver (turkey, chicken), cooked*	75 g (2.5 oz)	469
	Liver (beef, pork), cooked*	75 g (2.5 oz)	158

Non-Meat Sources
	Lentils, cooked	175 mL (¾ cup)	265
	Peas (chickpeas/garbanzo, black-eyed/cowpeas, adzuki), cooked	175 mL (¾ cup)	221
	Beans (navy, black, small white), cooked	175 mL (¾ cup)	186
	Edamame/baby soybeans, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	181
	Peas, pigeon, cooked	175 mL (¾ cup)	138
	Sunflower seeds, without shell	60 mL (¼ cup)	79
	Soybeans, dry, roasted	60 mL (¼ cup)	89

*Pregnant women should limit intake of liver to one serving every two weeks

The information in this resource is for general information purposes only and is not intended to replace informed medical advice. Consume foods according to any dietary guidelines you have been provided from a health care professional. Metro Ontario Pharmacies Limited assumes no legal liability for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of the information.