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Naturally occurring folates in selected traditionally prepared foods in Southern India

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Abstract

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.

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Abbreviations

LC–MS/MS:

Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

SRM:

Selected reaction monitoring

HPLC:

High pressure liquid chromatography

GCMS:

Gas chromatography mass spectrometry

ESI:

Electrospray ionisation

APCI:

Atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation

m/z :

Mass to charge ratio

Rf :

Response factor

SPE–SAX:

Solid phase extraction–strong anion exchange

CID:

Collision induced dissociation

CRM:

Certified reference materials

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Acknowledgements

The mass spectrometric analysis for this work was carried out at the Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Facility, UNSW, Sydney, Australia and was supported in part by grants from Australian Government Systemic Infrastructure Initiative and Major National Research Facilities program (UNSW node of Australian Proteome Analysis Facility) and by the UNSW capital Grants Scheme. The authors wish to thank Dr. Naresh Kumar, from the School of Chemistry, The University of New South Wales for his assistance in the synthesis of the carbon-labelled formyl folic acid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food Science and Technology, School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, UNSW Australia, Sydney, 2052, Australia

    Shyamala Vishnumohan & Jayashree Arcot

  2. Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Facility, The Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, UNSW Australia, Sydney, 2052, Australia

    Russell Pickford

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  1. Shyamala Vishnumohan
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  2. Russell Pickford
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  3. Jayashree Arcot
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Correspondence to Jayashree Arcot.

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Vishnumohan, S., Pickford, R. & Arcot, J. Naturally occurring folates in selected traditionally prepared foods in Southern India. J Food Sci Technol 54, 4173–4180 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-017-2870-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-017-2870-7

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