Folic acid and iron evaluation in Brazilian enriched corn and wheat flours

Abstract

Folic acid has been identified as one of the most important vitamins for normal human metabolic function. Iron deficiency is a serious health problem affecting a large proportion of the world population. In Brazil, an issue has been ruled requiring that corn and wheat flours must be fortified by the addition of folic acid and iron. The aim of this work was to evaluate the levels of folic acid and iron in some enriched flours. The successful quantification of both nutrients indicated that the levels of folic acid are in the range of 96 to 558 μg per 100g (in corn) and 73 to 233 μg per 100 g (in wheat) and from 3.8 to 8.7 mg per 100 g (in corn) and 4.6 to 7.4 mg per 100g (in wheat) for iron. Finally the Brazilian population seems to be exposed to inadequate concentrations of folic acid and iron when consuming enriched corn flours and some wheat flours. ©2008 Sociedade Brasileira de Química.