Improving Folate Content in Fermented Dairy Products
December 1/Olsztyn, Poland/Agriculture Week -- "Folate contents in selected commercial dairy products such as pasteurized and UHT milk, fermented milk beverages and raw milk were evaluated. Folates were extracted in a 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), followed by deconjugation with conjugase and destruction of matrix by protease and separated by HPLC after clean-up using SAX spe cartridges," scientists in Olsztyn, Poland, report.
"Only one form of folate -- 5-methyltetrahydrofolate -- was identified. The highest amount of this folate compound (6.7 mu g/100g) was found in raw bulk milk. The 5-CH3-FH4 content in three commercial UHT milk and five commercial pasteurized milk varied from 0.0 to 3.9 mu g/100 g and from 3.3 to 5.5 mu g/100g, respectively, and 18 commercial fermented milk products contained between 0.0 and 7.4 mu g /100g. Of the fermented milk beverages analyzed, buttermilk had the highest content of 5-CH3-FH4, while the amount in other fermented milk beverages was lower in comparison to the content in raw bulk milk," wrote E. Gujska and colleagues.