Question

Nadine is pregnant and is trying to monitor her folate intake. She is eating high folate foods in

addition to taking folate supplements, and she is having difficulty in determining how many dietary

folate equivalents (DFE) she is consuming. Below is a list of her daily intake with respect to folate:

½ cup of cooked lentils (180 μg food folate)

½ cup of fresh orange juice (60 μg food folate)

folate supplement (200 μg)

How many DFEs is Nadine consuming?

Answer 1

Dietary folate equivalents (DFEs) refer to the difference in the folate that is ingested vs the folate that is absorbed into the blood. This absorption is different for folate in food vs that as synthetic supplements.

For food folate, DFE is given as:

For synthetic folate or the folate that is taken only as a supplement, DFE is given as:

Here, the daily consumption has 180+60 = 240 ug of food folate. This is equivalent to 240 DFE.

Also, the daily consumption has 200ug of Supplementary folate. This is equivalent to 200*2 = 400 DFE.

Hence, the total DFE becomes 240 + 400 = 640.