Naturally occurring folates in selected traditionally prepared foods in Southern India.

A wide range of Indian foods (cereals, pulses, vegetables and milk based preparations) were analysed for five folate vitamers naturally present in the foods (n = 44). A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method using reversed phase chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry, coupled via positive mode electrospray ionization was used for the detection and quantification of the vitamers. The optimized LC-MS/MS method was capable of analysing the five most commonly-occurring folates (folic acid, 5-methyl tetrahydrofolic acid, tetrahydrofolic acid, 10-formyl folic acid and 5-formyl tetrahydrofolic acid) in 20 min. Quantification of folates was performed using 13C labelled internal standards. 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate was predominant in cereals, pulses and vegetable preparations. Fermented cereal preparations, beverages (coffee and tea) and green leafy vegetables were the main sources contributing to 5-formyl THF. Folic acid was identified in home-made yoghurt. All the values obtained in the present study using LC-MS/MS were compared to the total folate analysed using the microbiological assay in 2010 to generate data on the same foods. Findings suggest that the data obtained using both techniques showed agreement in the values (total folate calculated by adding the individual vitamers in the case of the LC-MS/MS values) particularly when foods were predominant in 5 methyl tetrahydrofolate.