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Abstract
In most countries, the dietary folate intake associated with adequate status of red cell folate and/or serum folate provides the basis for formulating reference values. One of the major challenges in setting dietary reference values for folate, however, is the need to account for the differences in bioavailability between the natural forms of the vitamin and the synthetic form, folic acid, albeit to date, few countries in Europe take bioavailability into consideration. A series of systematic reviews that included only those studies which used the most robust measures of both folate intake and folate status were carried out by the EURRECA Network of Excellence to examine the relationships between folate intake, status, and a number of health outcomes relevant to specific stages of the lifecycle. This review summarizes the available evidence and the issues to consider in the setting of dietary reference values for folate.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work reported herein has been carried out within the EURRECA Network of Excellence (www.eurreca.org), which is financially supported by the Commission of the European Communities, specific Research, Technology and Development (RTD) Programme “Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources,” within the Sixth Framework Programme, contract no. 036196. This report does not necessarily reflect the Commission's views or its future policy in this area. The authors would like to thank Sergi Migallon for administrative support. The preparation of this manuscript was coordinated by Rachel Collings from the University of East Anglia and copy-editing by the European Food Information Council (EUFIC).